#needed the parallel arm placement though | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

denimbex1986 · 9 months

Text

'Christopher Nolan ventured into uncharted territory in Oppenheimer when he shot his first sex scene, but as with all aspects of Nolan's films, there was a deeper meaning to it. The intense scene between Cillian Murphy's J. Robert Oppenheimer and Florence Pugh's Jean Tatlock has been met with both acclaim and criticism from different parts of the movie-going public, but its impact on the portrayal of Oppenheimer and the movie as a whole is undeniable. It features one of the most famous quotes associated with the charismatic genius behind the atomic bomb, and therein lies its significance.

The scene in Oppenheimer occurs shortly after Oppenheimer meets Tatlock at a Communist Party function in 1936. Oppenheimer's entanglement with Tatlock would have huge ramifications for his life long after her suicide in 1944. In the middle of the scene, Tatlock pauses when a book on Oppenheimer's shelf catches her eye. She pulls it off the shelf and demands that Oppenheimer read from it, even though it is written in Sanskrit. Surprised, he reads, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds"--a quote that would have great significance when the real J. Robert Oppenheimer spoke it in a 1965 TV broadcast.

Oppenheimer's "Now I Am Become Death" Quote Is From The Bhagavad Gita

The book that Tatlock has Oppenheimer read from in Oppenheimer is the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture of divine knowledge that was a favorite for the theoretical physicist. In the scripture, the line is spoken by Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, the sometimes four-armed principal deity of Hinduism. Often misinterpreted, the word "death" actually in that instance means "world-destroying time" per Open Culture, and refers to how no matter what a person might do, everything is ultimately determined by the divine.

Oppenheimer would go on to oppose the use and existence of nuclear weapons later in his life, and that was his mindset when he spoke the quote in the 1965 documentary The Decision to Drop the Bomb. Oppenheimer's use and interpretation of the quote is part of how he would grapple with his role in the development of the devastating atomic bomb. Nolan's decision to work it into Oppenheimer is unsurprising, but its placement within the movie has left some puzzled.

Oppenheimer's First Sex Scene Connects Jean Tatlock To The Atomic Bomb

Oppenheimer's R-rated sex scene in which the quote is used occurs chronologically many years before the atomic bomb is developed. However, by juxtaposing Oppenheimer and Jean Tatlock's first romantic encounter with the quote, Christopher Nolan is able to connect their romance to Oppenheimer's passionate and destructive relationship with the atomic bomb. The parallels between the fiery passion of their relationship, along with its destructive outcome prove how intentional and important the sex scene is to Oppenheimer.

Tatlock was clinically depressed, and she eventually committed suicide in 1944. In the hearing regarding his security clearance in Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer admits that he felt a responsibility to continue to see Tatlock despite being married, implying that the symptoms of her depression might have been exacerbated by her ongoing love for him. There is a direct parallel between Oppenheimer's guilt over Jean's death and the guilt he would go on to feel for his involvement with the atomic bomb. That connection is brilliantly made by Nolan using Oppenheimer's most famous quote about the bomb in a sex scene with Tatlock.

The Real Meaning Of Oppenheimer's "Now I Am Become Death" Sex Scene

There are multiple ways to interpret the first sex scene in Oppenheimer, but its most significant meaning was laid out by Nolan himself. As the movie is first and foremost an examination of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director thought that audiences needed to understand the physicist's relationship with women--and specifically with Jean Tatlock--to fully understand the man himself. Nolan told Insider that, "...when you look at Oppenheimer's life and you look at his story, that aspect of his life, the aspect of his sexuality, his way with women, the charm that he exuded, it's an essential part of his story."

To omit the intimacy of the sex scene in Oppenheimer would have been to leave out a key part of who Oppenheimer was. However, juxtaposing it with the quote from the Bhagavad Gita helps to encapsulate the complexity of the man as a whole. At the center of his life's work is a profound sense of shame and guilt over the destruction and death he ultimately felt responsible for--not only for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but the suicide of Jean Tatlock as well.'

#Oppenheimer #Cillian Murphy #Christopher Nolan #Jean Tatlock #Florence Pugh #Bhagavad Gita

0 notes

skyttedickinson6 · 2 years

Text

Everything You Have Always Wanted To Know About Football

Few games compare to football. It is a fast and furious sport that is just so much fun. In order to be a good player, you need to understand how the game is played and have a thorough understanding of how to succeed in your specific position. To build your knowledge, dive in to the content below. As you try to get better as a non-professional football player, record your favorite NFL team and watch the film over and over. Mimic certain plays and use the pointers you get from the professionals, and incorporate them into your own game. Although you probably won't be as amazing as what you see on the film, it will help improve your own game. Does your kicker know the proper placement of the plant foot? The plant foot must be placed alongside the football. It should not be ahead of it or behind it. When the ball is kicked, the show must be parallel to the field. Practice often to perfect kicking technique. Work on your endurance as a football player, along with all your other training. Ultimately, it doesn't matter how good you are in your position, if you can't be at your best from kickoff until the last second ticks off the clock. Train and practice hard, and keep your endurance on a professional level. Your playing time is going to be determined largely by your work ethic. While natural talent can play a large role, work ethic is a larger part of being successful as a football player. Coaches prefer hardworking players over talented but lazy ones. Learn the proper technique for catching a football. The best receivers know that the quicker they can grab the ball, the less likely the defense will get it. To catch a ball extend your arms and reach for the ball as it gets close to you. Then tuck the ball to help avoid fumbling the football. Never take the field without a helmet. Each season, your helmet should be inspected thoroughly. The plastic shell should not have any cracks in it and the padding must be in good condition. It should also have a face mask that properly attaches to the helmet and a chin strap that fastens securely. All this is to be sure to prevent head injuries during play. The time is now to toughen yourself up. You may get the wind knocked out of you, or even slightly injured. These are times when you just have to get up and get back into the game. Serious injuries like concussions are times when you must get off the field, though. Nutrition plays a large role in a successful football players life. Football players exert tremendous amounts of energy during practice and games; therefore, it is important to eat enough calories to keep your energy levels at peak performance. Eating a variety of lean proteins and complex carbohydrates help give you the energy you need. Practice whenever you can, even if it's by yourself. You don't need to be around your team to get a good practice session in. While it's helpful, it's definitely not necessary. You can practice sprinting, agility moves, your patterns, and even catching by throwing the ball high into the air. There will be times that opposing teams play rough or target you. If you think that they are deliberately trying to cause you physical harm, tell your coach. Do not retaliate on bongvip88 . It could lead to injuries, cause your team penalties and possibly get you thrown out of the game. Remain consistent with the workout routines you choose to get yourself ready for football. You may read a lot of things about what kind of workouts you should be doing, but once you pick something, stick with it long enough to see results. If you switch back and forth, you won't progress as quick as you want. To run down the game clock, make sure that the receivers and running backs on the other team stay within bounds. If you can keep them on the field, the clock won't be stopped and will instead run out. If your lead is large enough, you don't have to do this. Now that you've read it, try going out and practicing what you just learned. Effort and training will lead to positive results. Take as much time as you need, and use these tips to reach your goals.

#bongvip88

0 notes

j4gm · 3 years

Text

TOGETHER AGAIN SPOILERS

A thread of lore, Easter eggs, episode connections, and background details from Adventure Time: Distant Lands: Together Again! Let me know if I missed anything! This is adapted from my original Twitter thread.

Keep reading ⬇️⬇️⬇️

1. I was expecting them to perhaps do a classic style title sequence for this episode, but I wasn't expecting them to straight up use the original title sequence. The only difference is this final screen saying "Distant Lands".

2. The background of the title cards is also the hill from the title sequence.

3. The ice cream having "50 flavours" and having an image of an enlightened soul is an obvious reference to the 50th Dead World as we see it later in the episode.

4. Continuing with the metaphor, the dirt in the ice cream could be a parallel to the fact that Jake's Nirvana actually wasn't perfect, because his inaction was allowing for injustice to perpetuate.

5. This whole scene feels immediately slightly off. Finn has his Scarlet sword and is out on a classic Ice King adventure, but he speaks in his grown voice and all the slang feels much more forced than it did in the real season one. Turns out this was deliberate.

6. The snow golem speaks with a baby voice like it did in the pilot episode, even though in canon it has a deeper voice. This further hints that something is not quite right.

7. The first major break in continuity is these snow golems resembling Uncle Gumbald and Peace Master, who Finn didn't meet until later in his life.

8. LSP sitting on Finn's head like this is reminiscent of Pen Ward's piece for the 2018 Ble crew zine.

9. Finn being given the choice of helping somebody but ending up helping everybody reminds me of "Memories of Boom Boom Mountain". It's the kind of resolution that wouldn't happen so much in the late seasons of the show, which helps make this scene feel even further out of place.

10. Jake is half frozen by Ice King in pretty much the exact same way as he was in "Prisoners of Love", and even has a very similar line.

11. The Snail is seen here. The crew have said that the Snail has been deliberately left out of previous Distant Lands specials, so its placement here is another very deliberate hint that this whole sequence is "trying too hard" to be like the early seasons.

12. The book "Mind Games" appears a couple of times, as seen in several previous episodes of Adventure Time. The first is as Finn is approaching the library in his dream. It also appears as one of the items in Finn's backpack later.

13. Jake is hurt when Finn fist bumps him with his metal arm, revealing that this scene is not real. This is also a callback to the title sequences of "Islands" and "Elements".

14. A whole bunch of familiar skeletons are seen in the bird's nest: Dirt Beer Guy, Abracadaniel, Me-Mow, Lemongrab, Mr. Pig, and the Snail again. This doesn't necessarily mean that all these characters are dead, since this scene is just a hallucination.

15. Old Man Finn! He's still got the chest tattoo of Jake, and this time we know that Jake is dead, so the theory that Jake died before "Obsidian" seems pretty likely. He looks similar to his old man design from "Puhoy", with the same facial hair.

16. There are several cameos of familiar characters who apparently died at the same time as Finn. The first is this duck, who previously appeared in "Ocarina".

17. The second is Donny, from the episode... uh, "Donny".

18. This goblin guy is an unnamed background character from “The Silent King”.

19. This old lady first appeared in "The Enchiridion", way back in season one. Old ladies are a species in the Land of Ooo, so I guess she wasn't actually very old back then, given she just about outlived Finn.

20. This is the cobbler who first appears in "His Hero". Amazing that he lived so long given all the trouble he got into in that episode.

21. Land of the Dead! This place was first seen in season two's "Death in Bloom", and now we are finally learning its actual purpose. It's a sort of gateway and hub to all of the other dead worlds.

22. There are some more minor cameos at the gates: a house person from "Donny", a soft person from "Gut Grinder", and a wood person from "When Wedding Bells Thaw". And, of course, the gate guardian himself from “Death in Bloom”.

23. Finn completely ignores the gate guardian in the same way he did in Death in Bloom. This also has the convenient effect of not having to reveal how Finn died, leaving it up to the audience's imagination.

24. Mr. Fox! We already knew he would die at some point because BMO had his skull in the finale.

25. Finn has his design from the first Distant Lands poster in this scene. Turns out it's young Finn in old Finn's clothes. But they gave him a shirt in the poster so you wouldn't be able to see the tattoo.

26. The clapping that Finn does while he's looking for Jake is a callback to "James Baxter the Horse", when Jake tells Finn to listen for that same rhythm if they are killed and need to find each other in the afterlife.

27. Mr. Fox talks about a "past life quotient", suggesting that there might be some kind of limit to how many times somebody can reincarnate. Finn's reincarnations are also seen in this scene; a callback to "The Vault", and confirmation that reincarnations share the same soul.

28. Boobafina, the goose who Mr. Fox was in love with in his debut episode “Storytelling”, apparently reincarnated into a tugboat. We've already seen that objects can have souls in the episode "Ghost Fly".

29. Finn is initially assigned to the 37th Dead World, which is the same one that Jake went to when he died in "Sons of Mars". We can only guess at what the other numbers on the ticket mean ;)

30. Tiffany! Despite several lucky escapes throughout his life, Tiffany has finally died. I like the use of this imagery to express Finn's conflicted feelings about him.

31. The 50th Dead World has long been established as the "highest" dead world, and the one synonymous with Heaven within Adventure Time's universe. It was first mentioned in "Ghost Princess" back in season three.

32. It's unclear what happens to souls which are destroyed within the dead worlds. It is a similar question to asking what happened to the ghosts that were killed in "Ghost Fly".

33. Death doesn't speak at all in Together Again because his voice actor, Miguel Ferrer, passed away in 2017 long before production began.

34. Finn phases through New Death when he tries to attack him, just like what happened way back in "Death in Bloom".

35. The 30th Dead World contains Tree Trunks as well as many of her love interests; Mr. Pig, her alien husband from "High Strangeness", Danny and Randy who first appeared in "Apple Wedding", and several more who we don't recognise, including at least one who presents as a woman.

36. Literally yelled when these two showed up. Joshua calls Finn a crybaby, which is a callback to "Dad's Dungeon".

37. The wall of weapons in Joshua and Margaret's house includes the iconic Demon Blood Sword, which was broken in "Play Date", as well as Margaret's auto-loading crossbow from "Joshua & Margaret Investigations".

38. Jermaine is sidelined a few times through the episode, in reference to his attitude in "Jermaine" where he feels that Finn and Jake were always their parents' favourites. I would have hoped things would be a bit better by now.

39. Fern gets name dropped while Finn and Jake are reuniting. A shame he doesn't actually show up in the episode.

40. In this scene, Finn says "What time is it?" This is a very subtle reference to the 2010 cartoon "Adventure Time".

41. In a couple of shots during this fight scene it looks like Jake might have a tattoo. It seems like it only becomes visible when he stretches out his arm.

42. New Death's amulet in this scene resembles parts of the Lich's cape, foreshadowing his influence on New Death.

43. There are several more cameos in the 50th Dead World: Booshy from "High Strangeness", one of the Marshmallow Kids from "Scamps", and Ghost Princess and Clarence, who were seen ascending to the 50th Dead World in "Ghost Princess".

44. Finn didn't interact with Booshy in "High Strangeness", but it seems they must have met at some point before they both died because Finn knows his name.

45. It seems like people in the 1st Dead World are slowly melted away until they become part of the landscape. Nasty.

46. Lots more cameos in this scene: a gnome from "Power Animal", a gnome from "The Enchiridion", a Bath Boy from "The Vault", Blagertha from "Love Games", Maja the Sky Witch, a troll from "Dungeon", Chocoberry, Choose Goose, Wyatt, a spiky person from "Gut Grinder", and possibly more.

47. Tiffany's insults are consistently nonsensical and amazing, as they were in the original series.

48. The Candy Kingdom looks extremely different. Peppermint Butler is wearing the crown so he might be in charge now, which is supported by the kingdom's very magical-looking augmentations. It’s not clear whether Finn and Jake were expecting to find Princess Bubblegum or Peppermint Butler, since both have the initials “PB” and both could be going by the title of “Princess”. Perhaps Peps and Bubblegum share the princess duties now that PB is living with Marceline more of the time.

49. Peppermint Butler has a "Boss" mug, although it's not the same colour as the one from "Obsidian".

50. Jake's ghost has the same design as he did when BMO killed him in "Ghost Fly". I also absolutely love Finn's ghost. This scene establishes that ghosts are just visitors to the mortal plane from the dead worlds.

51. Life has only appeared in animated shorts before now. Namely, "The Gift That Reaps Giving" which establishes her relationship with Death, and "Frog Seasons: Winter". This episode gives her a concrete place within Adventure Time's pantheon: she is in charge of reincarnation.

52. A translation of Life’s angry French dialogue by Shado: “After all I did for that boy. After all I did for him. No, it's not possible. It's not possible no, that... that makes me so mad but it's not possible.”

53. We finally have in-universe confirmation that Shoko's tiger is a previous life of Jake. This was previously confirmed by one of the writers, but wasn't canon until now.

54. I feel like Finn pulled off Shoko's look even better than Shoko did. I wonder whether Finn has gained the memories of his past lives now that he’s dead.

55. No Easter egg here, just want to appreciate this image.

56. There is an elemental symbol on the wall here, as seen in "Jelly Beans Have Power".

57. Tiffany's dramatic internal monologue is a recurring gag, as is his habit of nearly dying from falling into holes.

58. The Jake suit makes a cameo in the fight against New Death. It was last seen in the episode "Reboot”.

59. Finn's backpack contains a few familiar items: the t-shirt with the pocket from "It Came from the Nightosphere", Finn's underwear from "Little Dude" and other episodes, and a copy of Mind Games as I've already mentioned.

60. The Lich's Hand is present in the background of Death's... death scene. This is probably the unseen "friend" who New Death keeps talking about.

61. The Lich's menacing monologues often begin with a single command. Previously they have included "Fall" and "Stop". This time, the command is "Burn".

62. Jake uses the word "boingloings", which is a callback all the way to "Hitman" in the third season.

63. Jake's blue shape-shifter form from "Abstract" appears very briefly during his fight with Finn.

64. Finn's lumpy space person form also makes an appearance. This design was last seen all the way back in the second episode of the entire show, "Trouble in Lumpy Space".

65. Jake steps on the Lich's hand in a very similar way to how he stepped on Ash in "Memory of a Memory", which is itself a Monty Python reference.

66. The credits include a dedication to a few AT cast and crew who have passed away. Polly Lou Livingston was the voice of Tree Trunks. Miguel Ferrer was the voice of Death. Michel Lyman and Maureen Mlynarczyk were both sheet timers on the original series. Rest in peace.

67. The message that Finn and Jake write out on the ouija board is "BUTT", which Peppermint Butler takes as a distress signal. This message is also used as a distress signal by the Hot Dog Knights in "The Limit".

68. Peppermint Butler's reversed dialogue from the scene where he makes contact with Finn and Jake is "Kee-Oth Rama Pancake", the spell from “Dad's Dungeon” for banishing demons.

69. That appears to be President Porpoise with all of Tree Trunks’ other lovers.

70. In this scene, Life is humming part of "Lonely Bones", the song which Death tried to record for her in her debut short "The Gift That Reaps Giving". It's hard to notice because it's so brief.

71. Finn and Jake's cover is blown while in the Land of the Dead because Jake loudly farts, which also happened in "Death in Bloom".

72. The place where Mr. Fox explains the perception mechanics of the afterlife is the exact same location as the River of Forgetfulness from "Death in Bloom", which, as it turns out, was imaginary.

These are sort of out of order at the end because I was adding stuff to the Twitter thread as it got discovered. That’s all for now!

#adventure time #together again #finn the human #jake the dog #lorepost

472 notes · View notes

kyberphilosopher · 3 years

Text

Rᴇᴅᴀᴍᴀɴᴄʏ

Redamancy: (n.) the act of loving the one who loves you; a love returned in full.

After spending the night with Eren, you try to determine the future of your relationship. Eren complicates things.

Word Count : 1822

Contains allusions to sex.

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.★.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

It was a miracle that neither of you had been caught. Truly. In fact, the sheer convenience of the whole thing was enough to make you raise your eyebrow in suspicion. Though, there was no reason for you to stop taking it for granted.

It was the boy who had started it.

Whether or not you had kissed first, or him, was irrelevant. What matters was that the mess hall was empty, and the air was quick to feel hot. The more of his lips you felt, the stronger the smell of sweat became. Not that you minded. Your head was too cloudy with a strong sense of growing lust to care. In fact, you reveled in it. But it was Eren who had given the word to take things back to your dormitory, and it was you who had given the word of acceptance.

The night had been excellent, in short. The dormitory had been, similar to the mess hall, emptied out. The two of you had been blessed with a whole nights worth of twisting and stretching, without the confines of anxiety or embarrassment.

His skin felt like fire. His lips were wet from coats of saliva. In fact, like a Titan, he had given you little to no mercy in terms of bruising and marks made from a tongue. In turn, you couldn’t help the thin scratches your finger nails had given his back, and the final mess of his chocolate colored locks. Time blurred together. All you knew was warmth and steam.

And then, you must’ve fallen asleep in the early morning. Your lover hadn’t been far behind you. Perhaps it was because your body had become numb or overly sensitive from all the heat, but you hadn’t recalled Eren’s arms being wrapped around you before drifting off.

But now...

His hands are on you again. Not like they were the night before, but nearly just as intimate. Fingertips aren’t hot this time, but getting there. For now, they are warm.

One of Eren’s arms is under your body, with the forearm out and hand reaching right under your breast. The other is draped over your shoulder, with the hand between the front of your throat and the center of your collarbone. This is the hand that is responsible for pushing your back closer against his chest and keeping you there. It feels like a trap, but a loving one.

Love. That was the issue here.

You’d had a certain admiration for Jaeger for a while. You’d known each other since your cadet years. He was hot headed, stubborn, but driven. You weren’t particularly bratty or as hard brained as he, but the two of you were easily in sync. You were friends. You joked like friends. Did favors like friends. Fought together like friends. Now you were wrestling together, and it wasn’t like friends.

But you hadn’t considered what would happen after. Would you remain simply friends? Did you want this to be a one time thing, or not? Did Eren? If not, what was he keeping you so close to him for? Behavior like this is normally reserved for relationships. What are you to do with this?

Eren’s body shifts. You can feel the muscles in his abdomen roll and settle back into place with the curve of your back. Your eyes remain open as a sign of how wide awake you are, glued to all the other objects in the room you can see.

Love. Eren is showing a sign of love. Is he? You could be mistaken. Is it right to read into the placement of his fingers, or not? Should you wake him up to discuss it? No. Not, let him rest.

Your bottom lip sucks in between your teeth as you think. Eren’s grip on you feels as if it’s getting tighter by the second, though that might just be a figment of your anxiety instead of reality. Regardless, his touch is not one of hatred or lust, for the time being. It’s soft, but firm. Firm enough for you to have wiggle room if you need it, but soft enough to let you know he Eren has no intention of hurting you. It feels more like he wants you to stay. Which brings you back to your first problem- was this a sign of love?

Eren shifts again. His neck cranes around in a lazy stretch, than his face sinks into the back of your neck. You can feel it settle between the nape of your neck and your body of hair. Eren breathes out through his nose as he continues to grow comfortable, and for a split second, you’re ecstatic with your current position.

The hand by your breast twitches, then slips lower. The palm rests closer to the side of your ribs now, making you hyper aware of touch all over again. Upon natural reaction, your toes curl tightly in stimulation, though not from anything sexual. Just from the intimacy.

Swallowing, you decide to test the waters.

Your legs detangle from each other and instead encroach on Eren’s territory. Your left heel grazes against Eren’s shin, and you push yourself closer against his chest, if it were possible.

Erent doesn’t wake up completely. Instead, there’s a stiff “Mmm,” as his own legs move. One of his legs runs over your own, covering over it. Now you’re closer.

He must be aware of his actions, right?

“Good morning.”

His voice is low and scratchy from sleep. If your mind hadn’t been consumed with the future of your relationship with him, you would’ve felt the vibration of his voice right to the core between your legs.

You don’t respond. Despite your wide open eyes, you are turned away from him. If you’re quiet, you can feign sleep. Maybe then you’ll have time to think a way out of this.

“Y/N, it’s time to wake up,” he says against your ear. You feel his body stretch, but remain in the same position. Eren is quiet for a moment. Then he speaks again. “I can tell that you’re awake, you know.”

Well, shit.

Your mouth is quick to go dry. Your heart is thump, thump, thumping. You’re certain he can feel it just as you can.

“I have to get up,” you say suddenly, without thinking. In your panic, you sit up, your legs uncurling from Eren’s and bending as an arm gives you leverage against the mattress. His hands fall from your form at once, breaking the contact.

Now the air feels cold.

Eren watches your bare back. His eyes are half closed from the drowsiness of morning, pieces of hair sprawled out against the pillow he rests against. Even from this view, Eren can see a fraction of temporary scars he’d left on your body from the previous night. Not to say that he caused you pain. He hadn’t.

Absent mindedly, Eren’s left hand reaches up to trail his fingers along your spine. You tense up immediately, almost in a jolt. Jaeger must not think anything of it, though, because his pads of his fingers continue to ghost over the muscles of your back as lightly as a feather.

“Did you sleep alright?” he questions, still tired himself.

You had slept fantastic, actually. So warm, so safe, too exhausted to consider anything but being asleep. Eren Jaeger had been responsible for all three of those factors. You had the chance to argue that it was the best you’d slept in years. Dare you even say, all your life?

“I slept okay,” your mutter. You don’t know what his game is. You don’t know what he’s thinking.

“Good,” Eren responds. “I’d hope so.”

There is a pause. “Did you have a good night, too?” he further questions. You can tell there is his version of a smile behind his words. One of those sick ones when he’s thinking something somewhat radical.

The night, like your sleep, had also been fantastic. But was that all that Eren had thought about? Was that what he had been after this whole time? No. The relationship and comfort between the two of you was genuine, but so was the heated night of passion. What did you want? More importantly, what did Eren want?

Eren presses his entire hand against your back until it’s flat. If it were covered in paint, or more likely, blood, it would leave a perfect hand print against your skin.

“Yes, I did,” you speak.

Eren’s eyes soften. His hand pulls away from your skin, than returns to the light wisps of touching with his fingers.

Some people, had they not known Eren, may have thought his touch resembled that of a painters, or a musicians. In fact, his touch and gifted hands were born from the training you had been put through. He would’ve had to be conscious of his finger placement, what with how often they’re balled into tight fists of rage.

Then Eren frowns. His touch slows until it pauses completely. “Is something wrong?”

Perhaps you were thinking too hard about it. Perhaps whether him holding you meaning something or not wasn’t even really important. It could’ve been something done with little thought or emotion.

You don’t answer. You’re staring at the wall parallel to your bed a bit away, remembering several of the expressions Eren had made just a few hours ago. The butterflies in your stomach are making an appearance again, and you’re forced into a corner of guilt over whether your entire relationship is now ruined.

Jaeger, though, isn’t having it. In a clean motion, an arm wraps around your stomach and pulls you back down against the bed. You land with a thud against the cheap thing, and Eren is quick to apologize.

Both his arms snake their way around your body, finding the best areas to hold in order to get you to stay there with him. Because, despite your beautiful, questioning, wondering mind, Eren is showing you genuine love. He loves you. He’s trying to let you know that he loves you.

His head rests between your shoulder and your neck, his cheek by your ear and his face close to pressed against yours. “Just go back to sleep, then,” he advises lowly, his own voice lowering from another wave of drowsiness. With his eyes becoming heavy and fast, he places a kiss against your temple.

And you, settling back into the warmth, do not even bother to fight it this time. You return the love in kind, accepting it and sinking in it. Drowning in it, even. You would worry yourself with questions of your future with Eren when you wake again, and the boy would worry he had not made his intentions of affection clear.

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.★.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

I wrote this in an hour. I can’t think of anything more to do with it.

#eren jaeger x reader #eren jaeger imagines #eren yeager x reader #eren yeager imagines #eren fanfiction #eren jaeger fanfiction #eren yeager fanfiction #attack on titan fanfiction #aot fanfiction #aot fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction

694 notes · View notes

shyficwriter · 3 years

Text

Twister

Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Yondu, Peter, & Reader. Guest-starring Kraglin and Mantis

Summary: Drabble where gang plays Twister, but Yondu cheats by tickling reader

Author’s Note: Prompt that won second place in the poll (Option: GOTG 6) and I’m still deciding how I want to go about a tie breaker for 3rd place lol. Based off prompt from anon.

Word Count: 1,859

“Left foot on red!” Mantis cheered happily.

With Gamora and Drax looking over weapons with Rocket, Peter suggested a game of Twister as a way to kill boredom. You weren’t sure how he managed to rope Yondu and Kraglin into playing, but you assumed they probably placed bets.

Mantis was currently the referee, wanting to watch how the game was played first, and she giggled happily as she watched the four of you twist yourselves into pretzels trying to complete the latest instruction. You couldn’t help but think that if Groot hadn’t been with Rocket and the others right now, he’d probably be winning.

As soon as everyone had settled, with groans about being old from Yondu, Peter gave the go ahead for Mantis to spin again. Currently, you were stretched over Kraglin with your hands on yellow and green, and your feet on blue and red. The others of course also had their limbs on the same corresponding colors, but with the rules being that no two players could share a spot, your positions varied.

As stated, Kraglin was currently under you, doing his best to retain his almost horizontal position to avoid falling onto the mat. Unfamiliar with the game, he didn’t start out making the best placement choices. Peter was to your left, his right leg placed precariously between Kragin’s to rest on a blue dot, and his body leaning over Yondu who’s left arm was stretched under your own for purchase on yellow.

“Right hand blue!” said Mantis, to the collective groan of the group.

You found yourself in lucky enough position to not be buried under everyone else, so you were able to quickly position your hand in the dot right next to your right foot, much to the chagrin of Peter who had to reach for a free space at the far end of the mat as Yondu had taken the only other free space that was only available because Kraglin, unable to twist around in his flattened position to reach a blue space, fell and was eliminated from the game with an, “Aw, shucks!”

“Right hand yellow!” Mantis called once Kraglin had vacated the mat. He joined her at the spinner.

The three of you sighed in relief as this move resulted in a much needed “un-pretzeling.”

You were now currently at the highest advantage, seeing as Peter was twisted very awkwardly with his arms crossed over Yondu. However that all changed in a few more turns.

“Left foot blue.”

“Right hand green.”

“Right foot red.”

“Right hand yellow”

Now you were more or less pinned under Yondu’s right arm as he reached over you for a yellow dot to your right side. Peter was worse off though, after being finally able to uncross his arms for a bit, that last call forced him back in the same crossed arm position he had been just a few turns ago.

“Left foot red.”

You all shifted to red. An easy move.

“Right hand blue.”

You let out a yelp as you felt Yondu tweak your right side as he pulled his arm back to claim a blue dot to your left, and you squeaked again when he performed the same action to your left side before settling in on his chosen dot.

“No cheating!” you scold playfully.

“Wouldn’t dream of it!” replied Yondu, pretending to be offended.

“Left hand yellow.”

Everyone’s left hands had already been on yellow for some time, so this was a mercifully easy one, as everyone just shifted their hand down one space.

“Right hand green.”

Yondu was finally making his way out from under Peter, or Peter from over Yondu, depending on how you looked at it. Yondu moved his hand to green with ease, but not before poking you in the ribs and passing it off as an accident. Peter had obviously noticed Yondu’s shenanigans and was no longer regretting having forgotten to take his leather jacket off before starting the game. He could call him out for cheating, but hey, if it got rid of the competition... Not wanting to get his arms twisted up for a third time, he quickly reached over to claim the green dot directly in front of you. No matter, you were able to reach one just fine to the right, the last one in the row.

Now you were all parallel to each other, Yondu on the left of the mat, you on the right, and Peter in the middle.

Mantis called out ‘Left hand yellow’ yet again and you wondered if the spinner might be sticking, but everyone just moved their hands back up one space to where they had originally been on the last ‘left hand yellow’ call.

“Right foot yellow.”

Crap. Peter was faster and managed to kick his foot under your body before you could react to claim the furthest yellow dot, the one that would have been easiest for you to reach, forcing you to take the one next to it, the one that would have been easiest for him to claim. This required you to step over and almost straddle his leg to do so. Clearly he was trying a strategy to mess you up.

“Right hand green.”

Crap again. At first you thought nothing of it when Peter lifted his hand and you claimed the green spot his hand had previously occupied, assuming like every time when Mantis called a color/limb combination you were already on that you’d all move forward or backward a space. However, instead of taking the easy route and moving forward, he reached over you, and poked you in the armpit (resulting in a squeak from you) on the way down to claim the spot where you had just been, despite the fact that this also made things more difficult for himself. Yondu simply moved his hand down to rest on the green dot next to yours, despite many open within his reach.

“You both suck.” you scolded, laughter still in your voice.

“I have no idea what you mean.” Peter claimed, and Yondu just chuckled in response.

“Left hand blue.”

Yondu quickly snatched up the blue dot closest/easiest to Peter, and Peter awkwardly twisted to grab the one next to it, the one that would have been easiest for you to claim.

Because you were on top of Peter’s leg as well as under his torso, this made things difficult for you. The next best one for you to grab was under his leg, and with difficulty, you made it.

“Right hand yellow.”

Peter claimed the circle just next to the one your foot was resting on, so you seized the chance to get out from under him. You quickly pulled out from under his torso to reach over him to claim the yellow dot right next to it just in time to see Yondu had already claimed his and was very much in a better position than you and Peter seeing that he wasn’t tangled up at all.

“Left foot green.”

Finally, something to twist Yondu up! He had to swing his left foot behind his right to reach the green dot nearest to him. It wasn’t a whole lot, to be honest, he was still better off than you and Peter, but hey, it was something.

Speaking of you and Peter, Peter was now completely under you and twisted in what you were sure was an uncomfortable position. He looked over at Yondu and lamented, “How’d you get so lucky?”

“Skill, boy.” Yondu laughed.

“More like beginners luck!” You sassed, rolling your eyes.

“Right hand red.”

“Left foot yellow.”

“Right foot green.”

“Right hand blue”

A few turns later and Peter was in almost a crab-walk position, not exactly ideal for him. You were still bent over him like a bridge, facing away from him and Yondu, who was only just starting to lose his luck and get re-pretzeled in with you and Peter.

“Ain’t one of ya gonna fall yet?” he asked. “How long does this usually take?”

“Normally-” Peter grunted from the effort of staying in his position, “The game is much shorter- but... this is what happens... when you play with a master!”

You and Yondu both rolled your eyes at that. Kraglin groaned and laid back for a nap, expecting this to take a bit longer and Mantis just remained cheerful as ever, enjoying watching her friends tie themselves into knots.

“Left hand yellow.”

You managed to claim a yellow dot near to you, but then you felt something tickling at your waist.

“H-hey! Peter quit it!” you squealed through giggles.

“It’s not me! Why would it be me? If you fall on me we both lose!” Peter whined.

“Yondu!” you scolded.

“What?” came his voice from behind you in a mock-innocent tone. “I’m just trying to find a yella circle.”

You felt his fingers creep further up to your ribs and your giggles turned into laughter. “You won’t find it there! That’s cheating! Quit it!”

“Actually, I don’t see anything in here saying that’s against the rules,” Kraglin quipped, now re-interested in the game and pretending to go through the rule booklet. He even made a show if letting Mantis see.

Peter sighed and spoke up over your peels of laughter. “Mantis, just go ahead and spin the next color.” He was really hoping for a ‘right foot red’ or something that might allow him to pull himself from beneath you before you fell.

“I can’t Peter, the rules say everyone has to either find their circle or fall before we continue, and Yondu is still looking for a circle.” Oh Mantis, sometimes she was too innocent.

Kraglin chuckled and suggested maybe giving a time limit of 10 more seconds to “find a circle,” pretending to referee the situation. Mantis agreed, and Peter groaned, warning that you that you better not fall on him.

“Don’t worry, I think I almost found one!” Yondu claimed, smirking. He had moved his hand back down and was now scritching at what he could reach of your belly, and you were losing it. Even if it wasn’t against the rules to remove a hand from a circle unless another color had be called, you didn’t think you could manage it without collapsing, and there was nothing you’d like more right then than to pull his tickling fingers away from your tummy.

“No! No! AhahaHAH! Not there! Yondu! Yondu please! I- I can’t!” you cried out, trying with all you had to keep from falling, but, of course you failed in that goal. You finally collapsed, taking Peter down with you.

You rolled off of Peter, still giggly from being tickled, and smacked Yondu in the leg, who was now standing and smugly brushing himself off whilst declaring himself the winner. “That’s for cheating.”

“Hey, ya heard ‘em. Ain’t no rules against it.” The Centaurian laughed. “Well, I won. I believe you owe me some units, boy.” he said, grinning at Peter.

Peter grumbled and transferred the units he owed him, claiming his was going to add “no tickling” to the rulebook for the next game.

#gotg fanfic #yondu x reader #yondu x peter #Yondu Udonta #kraglin obfonteri #mantis #x reader #twister #games #fun #fluff #fluffy fanfiction #Guardians of the Galaxy

91 notes · View notes

whatgaviiformes · 3 years

Note

Olympic prompt

July 30 - Virgil

* brain fizzles* -- I knew exactly what I was doing...

So, I didn't drop everything to write this. butitotallydidwhat?

From prompt list here - ask me things!

***

This was his moment.

With the floor exercise and the pommel horse behind him, the competition was almost halfway through the six events that made up the Olympic order. He’d started to trail behind his competitors in the first two, but the still rings was where Virgil shined, and he knew he could gain back the momentum he needed to carry him through the final three events – the vault, parallel bars, and finally, the horizontal bars.

Suspended from a metal frame, the still rings didn’t look quite right without a gymnast performing feats of gravity-defying strength between them.

It was Virgil’s preference not to watch his competitors, to focus on his own performance and not get lost in his head. That self-preservation fought with his desire to support his teammates, but it often won in the end. It would do him no good to compare himself to others – the sport itself did that enough for them.

He let Coach tell him his placement, but not the scores. Not until the end. He was glad to hear though that Alex had won first place in the floor exercises; he was a spitfire of man who worked like hell the past four years to make it back to the Olympics, and who deserved every win coming to him. And it would help Team USA immensely. They might actually be able to win this thing.

No pressure or anything, Virgil.

Virgil didn’t know it, but a camera panned over him where he sat with his head bowed, eyes closed, his USA jacket draped over his shoulders but not on, and his fingers twitching in tandem with the light piano from his earbuds sending calm through his neck and shoulders where he needed it most.

The reporters were not privy to his music; that was just for him. And when asked what he was listening to, he always responded “the sound of victory” with a charming grin that the fans just adored. They all speculated he might actually share when he retired, though no one liked to think about the man leaving the gymnastics world just yet.

So Virgil didn’t know when the television captured him in the throes of his nerves, but Scott did. He’d stepped out from a TI meeting that was unable to be rescheduled and turned on the livestream just in time to hear the reporters share their speculations. They were confident he would take the event, if not the all-around win, and even as they spoke over the image, their words seem to sink into Virgil as if he could hear them, the weight of the world on those broad, cut shoulders. Virgil took after him in that manner. Scott had a lot of practice putting too much pressure on himself.

He wouldn’t be able to watch all of the competitors, but he could catch Virgil’s part. It was his hope that he’d be able to finalize the contract with his client, then hop on a plane to catch Virgil’s next event and help him handle that load he carried.

Scott knew how hard Virgil worked for this. Even if his heart clenched every time Virgil defied the laws of gravity with the sheer force of his twists and turns (and God, the vault was the absolute worst), he had every faith in his brother and his abilities.

He’d win.

The camera panned then to the stands, where in the front row Gordon and his friends on the Olympic Swim Team, also in full Team USA uniform, cheered over the call of his brother’s name.

“And here we have Gordon Tracy,” the reporter said. “A real contender for the men’s butterfly in a few days. I don’t know Jim – looks like the Tracys are a family to watch.”

Back in the arena, Virgil stood, spared a few moments to fold his jacket, lay it on the bench, and placed his music player on top. His eyes searched the crowd for Gordon, who nodded once they found each other.

A breath, as Virgil checked the grips that protected his hands and added chalk.

Then Virgil was in the air, his muscles straining, the tension in his face showing just how difficult this sport was.

But his body moved like it wasn’t.

He manipulated the rings like they were extensions of his arms, into the difficult swings and holds that were part of his routine.

In his ears was silence.

He lifted. Held.

For a few seconds he pushed the rings outward and held his body completely parallel to the ground.

He flipped and turned, held himself upward into a inverted cross, a handstand if he were on the ground.

And with a final set of difficult elements, he dismounted and landed on his feet.

The sound returned.

#ask box prompts #Olympics!Virgil #JanetM74 #Gavii Scribit

52 notes · View notes

yogaadvise · 3 years

Text

How to Awaken Your Third Eye

For many individuals, the term 'third eye' raises thoughts of the metaphysical, the mysterious, as well as the odd. Nevertheless, referrals to a '3rd eye' have crossed various cultures throughout the globe, as well as can be mapped back hundreds of years. Variants of the 'pineal eye' exist in numerous religions.

Your vision will become clear just when you can explore your own heart. Who looks outside, desires, who looks within, awakes. Carl Jung

And ultimately, there have been clinical developments which link the 3rd eye to concrete, physical procedures as well as structures (most especially, the pineal gland). Many yogis really hope to awaken their 3rd eye, as well as in doing so end up being much more harmonic with their vision.

What does the third eye do?

The pineal eye does many things that are purposeful for yogis. As an 'eye,' it is naturally linked to vision. Unlike a person's 2 physical eyes, the 3rd eye sees that which can not be seen by the naked eye. Rather, the third eye sees reality. It sees past ego and also externalities, as well as is the vital to intuition. It sees things as they are, as well as not as how a person might desire them to be.

Philosophy Behind the 3rd Eye

To comprehend why and how the pineal eye provides understanding and vision, an individual should explore the philosophical history. There are discussed to the 3rd eye within numerous old worlds and also cultures.

Within yoga exercise, Ayurveda, and also Hindi societies, the pineal eye is linked to the Ajna chakra, or 6th chakra. This chakra lies between the brows, just as the pineal eye is. It is also stated to be the secret to vision, assumption, intuition, and also clarity. If a yogi has actually entered their Ajna chakra, after that they have actually allowed go of their ego, and also welcomed the Self's union with the Divine. They have actually surrendered Maya, or the assumption of the specific as a different being. They have actually welcomed the supreme awareness that all beings share.

In Egyptian viewpoint and also history, there are additionally discusses of the 3rd eye. The key example is the Egyptian Eye of Horus. In addition, ancient Egyptian scrolls as well as burial places additionally show a marking in between the eyebrows, called an udjat. The udjat corresponds the Hindu bindi, a noting that is still used to now between the eyebrows. This noting was implied to represent health, vision, and also royal powers.

Even in more contemporary, Westernized societies, there are recommendations to the third eye. It is an usual claiming that a person may feel their 'sixth sense' prickling, or that someone has a 'second sight.' What is this intuition? The intuition coincides with the 6th chakra (Ajna chakra) pointed out over. It refers to a sense of instinct or foresight that some people may experience. This is an outcome of the third eye.

Biological Explanation Behind the Third Eye

Many individuals will certainly not be encouraged of the power of the pineal eye simply by the philosophical and also historic history. In even more recent times, a clinical proof base has actually developed to support the extra spiritual insurance claims bordering the pineal eye. For countless years, signs of the pineal eye have been placed in between the brows, as displayed in the Hindi as well as Egyptian cultures. This corresponds with the biological area of the third eye: the pineal gland.

It is currently commonly thought that the third eye is in fact the pea-sized endocrine gland understood as the pineal gland. The pineal gland produces hormones such as melatonin, and also thus is known as the body's clock as well as controls body clocks. It influences when a person really feels weary, wide awake, and sleeps. Melatonin additionally influences reproductive hormonal agents, which will influence an individual's mood, vigor, and fertility.

For a long time, the pineal gland was seen as a 'vestigial organ,' or a body organ that exists in the body however no more serves a purpose. Some have actually theorized that this is since modern-day individuals have actually lost touch with their spiritual vision as well as instinct. Others placed this to encironmental impacts such as enhanced fluoride as well as calcium in individuals's diet plans, which can allegedly trigger calcification of the pineal gland. In contrast, prophets, sages, and Yogis of hundreds of years ago are said to have actually had much bigger pineal glands. When the present function of the pineal gland (to secrete melatonin as well as control body clocks) was uncovered, this supplied a clear biological web link to the powers of the 3rd eye.

How to Awaken the Third Eye

If you suspect you have concerns with your pineal eye, as many people do, you might be interested in different ways to stir up the pineal eye. Yoga exercise is developed to aid experts reach Samadhi, or enlightenment. To do this, their spirit needs to travel through all 7 chakras, including the Ajna chakra. To really come to be informed, a yogi needs to awaken their 3rd eye. Below are some certain instances of exactly how a yogi can awaken their 3rd eye.

One of one of the most common means to deal with stiring up the 3rd eye is with reflection. With reflection, the yogi relaxes their 'mind-chatter' or 'mind-stuff,' as described in the sutras. By locating stillness in mind and also spirit, the yogi is after that able to plainly see beyond surfaces and also vanity. They are able to see the globe as well as the Self in their truest form. To boost reflection for the 3rd eye, the yogi must be certain to meditate with closed eyes. They ought to visualize a strong white light originating from the area in between their eyebrows, slightly behind their forehead. With eyes closed, they can even shift their stare toward this area. By focusing the detects on this location, the 3rd eye might be stirred and gradually awakened.

Yoga Poses

There are lots of asanas (yoga positions) that can help in opening the pineal eye. These are the postures that target prana (power) circulation toward the sixth chakra. By raising the circulation of prana towards the pineal eye, it might end up being turned on. Here are some examples of positions that will certainly assist awaken the pineal eye:

Salamba Balanasana-- Kid's Pose

In this position, the yogi rests back on their heels, with the tops of the feet pushed right into the mat. They walk their arms out in front so their body is expanded over the knees. To turn on the 3rd eye, it is essential that the yogi presses their temple to the floor covering in this posture. This assists with a sensation of safety and security and also grounding, as unfavorable energy is extracted of the third eye.

Garudasana — Eagle Pose

This is a standing turning pose, in which among your legs is wrapped around the various other. The arms are turned also, as well as bent at the arm joints with the arms parallel to the floor. To engage the 3rd eye, make certain your hands are resting against the forehead. As you equilibrium, close your eye as well as bring your awareness to the pineal eye space.

Ardha Pincha Mayurasana-- Dolphin Pose

Dolphin pose is similar to down dealing with pet, other than the forearms are grown on the mat. Sometimes, the hands might also be clasped together. By decreasing the top body more detailed to the mat, lymphatic and blood circulation is enhanced to the head. This likewise boosts prana circulation. The pineal gland and, for that reason, 3rd eye can be activated.

Additionally, yoga exercise postures such as inversions, hip openers, as well as any posture where a mudra (hand placement) is placed over the eyes or temple can aid in stiring up the third eye.

Detoxify

The pineal gland is not separated from normal blood flow like the remainder of the brain is thanks to the blood brain barrier. As a matter of fact, the pineal gland receives the most blood circulation of any bodily body organ, aside from the kidneys. This blood flow raises the chance for toxins to inhibit the pineal gland, and for that reason the third eye. Therefore, it is essential to sustain detoxification paths. Detoxing can be done with cleanses, taking in specific detoxing foods, making use of turned on charcoal, taking in herbs that get rid of the liver, and also exercising turning yoga exercise poses.

Regulate Circadian Rhythm

Because the pineal gland, and also as a result the third eye, regulates a person's sleep-wake cycle, it is essential to see to it this is well balanced as well as healthy. An unbalanced sleep-wake cycle may aim toward issues with the pineal eye. To stir up the pineal eye, a person can concentrate on regulating their circadian rhythm. Instances of just how to do this include investing even more time in sun, and oversleeping complete darkness. 'Rest hygiene' can also be practiced, in which the individual goes to sleep as well as wakes up at the exact very same time every day.

Conclusion

The solutions talked about above are just a couple of examples of just how a person could awaken their 3rd eye. There are still many various other suggestions, such as preventing calcium and fluoride, presenting specific important oils, and more. Testing with various techniques will help the individual locate their favorite practices.

How do you recognize when your 3rd eye is awoken, though? Some people report picturing vibrant lights and pinecone (pineal gland shaped) images. Others state they are able to see auras as well as intense, stunning colors. They really feel an increased sense of intuition, and what some describe as a 'intuition.' Still other individuals report terrifying experiences, such as seeing dark numbers and sensations. In these cases, it is believed that the person opened their 3rd eye ahead of time. They were not mentally or mentally prepared to experience the awakening of their 3rd eye. Because of these experiences, it is very important not to rush the procedure of opening up the third eye. Take each step with Santosha (satisfaction) as well as acceptance. When you are all set, the pineal eye will awake.

#iyengar yoga #restorative yoga #spiritual #yoga #yoga nidra #yoga poses #yoga positions #yoga works

2 notes · View notes

terramythos · 4 years

Text

TerraMythos' 2020 Reading Challenge - Book 22 of 26

Title: House of Leaves (2000)

Author: Mark Z. Danielewski

Genre/Tags: Horror, Fiction, Metafiction, Weird, First-Person, Third-Person, Unreliable Narrator

Rating: 6/10

Date Began: 7/28/2020

Date Finished: 8/09/2020

House of Leaves follows two narrative threads. One is the story of Johnny Truant, a burnout in his mid-twenties who finds a giant manuscript written by a deceased, blind hermit named Zampanò. The second is said manuscript -- The Navidson Record -- a pseudo-academic analysis of a found-footage horror film that doesn’t seem to exist. In it, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson moves into a suburban home in Virginia with his partner Karen and their two children. Navidson soon makes the uncomfortable discovery that his new house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Over time he discovers more oddities -- a closet that wasn’t there before, and eventually a door that leads into an impossibly vast, dark series of rooms and hallways.

While Johnny grows more obsessed with the work, his life begins to take a turn for the worse, as told in the footnotes of The Navidson Record. At the same time, the mysteries of the impossible, sinister house on Ash Tree Lane continue to deepen.

To get a better idea try this: focus on these words, and whatever you do don’t let your eyes wander past the perimeter of this page. Now imagine just beyond your peripheral vision, maybe behind you, maybe to the side of you, maybe even in front of you, but right where you can’t see it, something is quietly closing in on you, so quiet in fact you can only hear it as silence. Find those pockets without sound. That’s where it is. Right at this moment. But don’t look. Keep your eyes here. Now take a deep breath. Go ahead and take an even deeper one. Only this time as you start to exhale try to imagine how fast it will happen, how hard it’s gonna hit you, how many times it will stab your jugular with its teeth or are they nails? don’t worry, that particular detail doesn’t matter, because before you have time to even process that you should be moving, you should be running, you should at the very least be flinging up your arms--you sure as hell should be getting rid of this book-- you won’t have time to even scream.

Don’t look.

I didn’t.

Of course I looked.

Some story spoilers under the cut.

Whoo boy do I feel torn on this one. House of Leaves contains some really intriguing ideas, and when it’s done right, it’s some of the best stuff out there. Unfortunately, there are also several questionable choices and narrative decisions that, for me, tarnish the overall experience. It’s certainly an interesting read, even if the whole is ultimately less than the sum of its parts.

First of all, I can see why people don’t like this book, or give up on it early (for me this was attempt number three). Despite an interesting concept and framing device, the first third or so of the book is pretty boring. Johnny is just not an interesting character. He does a lot of drugs and has a lot of (pretty unpleasant) sex and... that’s pretty much it, at least at the beginning. There’s occasional horror sections that are more interesting, where Johnny’s convinced he’s being hunted by something, but they’re few and far between. Meanwhile, the story in The Navidson Record seems content to focus on the relationship issues between two affluent suburbanites rather than the much more interesting, physically impossible house they live in. The early “exploration” sections are a little bit better, but overall I feel the opening act neglects the interesting premise.

However, unlike many, I love the gimmick. The academic presentation of the Navidson story is replete with extensive (fake) footnotes,and there’s tons of self-indulgent rambling in both stories. I personally find it hilarious; it’s an intentionally dense parody of modern academic writing. Readers will note early that the typographical format is nonstandard, with the multiple concurrent stories denoted by different typefaces, certain words in color, footnotes within footnotes, etc. House of Leaves eventually goes off the chain with this concept, gracing us with pages that look like (minor spoilers) this or this. This leads into the best part of this book, namely...

Its visual presentation! House of Leaves excels in conveying story and feeling through formatting decisions. The first picture I linked is one of many like it in a chapter about labyrinths. And reading it feels like navigating a labyrinth! It features a key “story”, but also daunting, multi-page lists of irrelevant names, buildings, architectural terms, etc. There are footnotes that don’t exist, then footnote citations that don’t seem to exist until one finds them later in the chapter. All this while physically turning the book or even grabbing a mirror to read certain passages. In short, it feels like navigating the twists, turns, and dead ends of a labyrinth. And that’s just one example -- other chapters utilize placement of the text to show where a character is in relation to others, what kind of things are happening around them, and so on. One chapter near the end features a square of text that gets progressively smaller as one turns the pages, which mirrors the claustrophobic feel of the narrative events. This is the coolest shit to me; I adore when a work utilizes its format to convey certain story elements. I usually see this in poetry and video games, but this is the first time I’ve seen it done so well in long-form fiction. City of Saints and Madmen and Shriek: An Afterword by Jeff VanderMeer, both of which I reviewed earlier this year, do something similar, and are clearly inspired by House of Leaves in more ways than one.

And yes, the story does get a little better, though it never wows me. The central horror story is not overtly scary, but eeriness suffices, and I have a soft spot for architectural horror. Even Johnny and the Navidsons become more interesting characters over time. For example, I find Karen pretty annoying and generic for most of the book, but her development in later chapters makes her much more interesting. While I question the practical need for Johnny’s frame story, it does become more engaging as he descends into paranoia and madness.

So why the relatively low rating? Well... as I alluded to earlier, there’s some questionable stuff in House of Leaves that leaves (...hah?) a bad taste in my mouth. The first is a heavy focus on sexual violence against women. I did some extensive thinking on this throughout my read, but I just cannot find a valid reason for it. The subject feels thrown in for pure shock value, and especially from a male author, it seems tacky and voyeuristic. If it came up once or twice I’d probably be able to stomach this more easily, but it’s persistent throughout the story, and doesn’t contribute anything to the plot or horror (not that that would really make it better). I’m not saying books can’t have that content, but it’s just not explored in any meaningful way, and it feels cheap and shitty to throw it in something that traumatizing just to shock the audience. It’s like a bad jump scare but worse on every level. There’s even a part near the end written in code, which I took the time to decode, only to discover it’s yet another example of this. Like, really, dude?

Second, this book’s portrayal of mental illness is not great. (major spoilers for Johnny’s arc.) One of the main things about Johnny’s story is he’s an unreliable narrator. From the outset, Johnny has occasional passages that can either be interpreted as genuine horror, or delusional breaks from reality. Reality vs unreality is a core theme throughout both stories. Is The Navidson Record real despite all evidence to the contrary? Is it real as in “is the film an actual thing” or “the events of the film are an actual thing”? and so on and so forth. Johnny’s sections mirror this; he’ll describe certain events, then later state they didn’t happen, contradict himself, or even describe a traumatic event through a made-up story. Eventually, the reader figures out parts of Johnny’s actual backstory, namely that when he was a small child, his mother was institutionalized for violent schizophrenia. Perhaps you can see where this is going...

Schizophrenia-as-horror is ridiculously overdone. But it also demonizes mental illness, and schizophrenia in particular, in a way that is actively harmful. Don’t misunderstand me, horror can be a great way to explore mental illness, but when it’s done wrong? Woof. Unfortunately House of Leaves doesn’t do it justice. While it avoids some cliches, it equates the horror elements of Johnny’s story to the emergence of his latent schizophrenia. This isn’t outwardly stated, and there are multiple interpretations of most of the story, but in lieu of solid and provable horror, it’s the most reasonable and consistent explanation. There’s also an emphasis on violent outbursts related to schizophrenia, which just isn’t an accurate portrayal of the condition.

To Danielewski’s credit, it’s not entirely black and white. We do see how Johnny’s descent into paranoia negatively affects his life and interpersonal relationships. There’s a bonus section where we see all the letters Johnny’s mother wrote him while in the mental hospital, and we can see her love and compassion for him in parallel to the mental illness. But the experimental typographical style returns here to depict just how “scary” schizophrenia is, and that comes off as tacky to me. I think this is probably an example of a piece of media not aging well (after all, this book just turned 20), and there’s been a definite move away from this kind of thing in horror, but that doesn’t change the impression it leaves. For a book as supposedly original/groundbreaking as this, defaulting to standard bad horror tropes is disappointing. And using “it was schizophrenia all along” to explain the horror elements in Johnny’s story feels like a cop-out. I wish there was more mystery here, or alternate interpretations that actually make sense.

Overall The Navidson Record part of the story feels more satisfying. I actually like that there isn’t a direct explanation for everything that happens. It feels like a more genuine horror story, regardless of whether you interpret it as a work of fiction within the story or not. There’s evidence for both. Part of me wishes the book had ended when this story ends (it doesn’t), or that the framing device with Johnny was absent, or something along those lines. Oh well-- this is the story we got, for better or worse.

I don’t regret reading House of Leaves, and it’s certainly impressive for a debut novel. If you’re looking for a horror-flavored work of metafiction, it’s a valid place to start. I think the experimental style is a genuine treat to read, and perhaps the negative aspects won’t hit you as hard as they did to me. But I can definitely see why this book is controversial.

#taylor reads #2020 reading challenge #6/10

7 notes · View notes

jocelynscloset · 4 years

Text

Sacrilege | Madison Montgomery

Summary: Madison and Harley decide to worship each other by defiling an abandoned house of worship...

Word #: 3.5K | Accompanying Playlist for this story | Other Playlists

Warnings: Smut, sacrilegious content, mild pet play, mild degradation, OFC, oral sex (both receiving), penetration with a holy object, religious and mythological references throughout, cussing, dirty talk, graphic sexual depictions, breath play, dom/sub dynamic, W|W, marijuana if you squint. It's just real filthy, y'all.

Author’s Note: Thank you to the lovely Tanya for commissioning this work from me

PATREON | KO-FI | COMMISSIONS | MASTERLIST

The autumn chill is sharp as it flutters the curtains in Madison’s bedroom. Her arm is warm around Harley’s shoulder as they lay reclined together on the soft bed. As the sun sets, they watch in silence as smoke leaves their lips and cascades in the air before them.

Nights like these are common. Getting high while the sun goes down and laying in each other’s arms in the comfort of Madison’s luxury sheets. It typically ends with Madison between Harley’s legs as Lana Del Rey’s voice echoes loudly off the walls. However, tonight as Harley tilts her head up and connects her lips with Madison’s, there’s some hesitation. Madison pulls away quickly, and Harley sees the wheels turning in her mind.

“I have an idea,” Madison whispers, giddiness over her proposition evident in her smile, which is accompanied by the characteristic nibbling of her bottom lip.

“I figured.” Harley smirks, awaiting Madison’s announcement.

“You know that abandoned church on the corner of 6th and Southern Cross?” Harley nods, squinting slightly. Is she about to say what I think she’s gonna say? “Let’s go there and… explore.”

Madison’s face is beaming with sincerity and a smirk appears on her lips as Harley processes the request. Slowly, Harley begins to nod and raise her brows as she imagines it. “Yeah, okay, I’m in.”

With that, Madison rises from the bed and grabs Harley’s hand in hers, and just as Harley’s upright, she feels the universe spin around her and her stomach turns as if she’s falling. Within a second, they’re standing between pews at the ornate, stately cathedral. The falling sun shines brightly through the stained glass windows, painting Harley and Madison various rich shades of red and yellow.

Madison keeps Harley’s fingers intertwined with hers as she strolls down the main walkway toward the altar, which is still decorated with various drip candles, brass details, and complete with a large aspersorium containing holy water. Madison smiles as she dips her fingertips into the cold, blessed water before smoothing her hair back with it, winking at your reflection as you observe her.

“What a treat.” Madison is smug as she continues to float around the altar, running her fingers over various candelabras, shimmering linen tablecloths, and even an old bible that was left behind. “and still so full of its own shit.”

Harley is gazing up at the columns separating the main room from its parallel hallways when Madison steps closer and wraps her arm around Harley’s waist. Madison gently pushes Harley’s hair to the side to access her neck, planting feather-light kisses along the column of her throat.

“I think it’s time for worship, kitten. Don’t you?” Madison’s whispers cause goosebumps to rise on the back of Harley’s neck at the pet name. Madison’s soft caress lingers on the curve of her hips as she gently pulls her backward before spinning Harley and nudging her to rest her back on the altar. It’s cold against her skin, but the heat blooming between her legs.

Madison is torturous with the pace at which she removes the layers separating her and her lover. With each inch of skin that’s revealed, Madison brazenly licks the area before gently blowing cold breath against it, causing shivers to run up and down Harley’s spine. It feels like a century has passed by the time Madison uncovers Harley’s breasts and performs her signature action on the raised peaks before her. Harley keens and arches her back due to her sensitivity to Madison’s touch, causing a smirk to cross her features.

“Aw, my little pet is so needy. How precious,” Madison taunts, punctuating her sentence by wrapping her lips around Harley’s nipple, suckling gently while swirling her tongue around it. Harley whimpers and raises a hand to run through Madison’s hair, prompting her to reach up and grab her wrist, pinning it beside her shoulder against the table. “You don’t touch unless I allow it.” Harley only nods and looks down at her exposed flesh, willing Madison to continue quelling the heat that threatens to burn her from the inside out.

Madison speeds up slightly, removing the rest of Harley’s clothing with a wave of her hand and beginning to plant open-mouthed kisses on the soft, sensitive flesh of her tummy. She’s slow, but purposeful with her placement, and in a matter of a minute, Harley is squirming in need.

“Please, Maddie—” Madison looks up from her spot kneeled between her legs, which are now propped up with her feet rested on the table and her knees bent and spread apart. She raises a brow and hums, leaning back and running her fingers between the valley of her lover’s breasts before rubbing slow circles on Harley’s clit.

“Is this what you wanted? To get straight to the point?” Harley moans, her breath getting stuck in her throat as Madison abruptly slides two fingers into her opening. A choked cry erupts from her as Madison leans down and bites at her swollen pussy. “How about now?” Harley cries out as Madison speeds up her ministrations, hitting that delicious spot inside her that makes her see fire. She feels the angry flames of pleasure lick at the tight cord in her belly and within seconds, she’s coming on Madison’s fingers.

However, Madison simply continues, ignoring her partner’s squirming and begging to slow down. Only for a few seconds, though. When she feels Harley’s cunt pulse around her fingers, signalling the approach of a second orgasm from sensitivity, she grins and pulls away, beginning to remove her own clothing. Harley props herself up on her elbows and catches her breath while Madison strips, her pupils blown wide with lust.

She licks her lips and raises her hands, now shaky with the adrenaline running through her veins and flicks a single finger, causing all of the prayer candles in the church to light simultaneously. Madison smirks, glancing around her and observing at least 200 candles flickering around them, creating shadows on the pure white walls. “Nice touch, kitten.”

Harley grins, spreading her legs wider, now glistening with the remainder of her last orgasm. Madison tuts at her, raising a brow and trying to suppress the smile that tugs at her lips. “Oh no, pet. You’ve been ungrateful. It’s time you remember how to reward generosity.” Harley feels her heart begin to race and her mouth water as Madison stalks to her side and gracefully climbs on the table before straddling her lover’s shoulders. “You know what to do. Don’t disappoint me, and maybe I’ll return to that sweet little place between your thighs.”

Harley nods, knowing better than to speak when she hasn’t been spoken to. She looks up at Madison for permission and once Madison nods graciously, Harley slides her hands up the back of Madison’s soft, smooth thighs and grasps at them, pulling her to rest on her mouth. She plants a gentle kiss on Madison’s clit, giggling at the little whine that falls from her lips. Madison shoots her a look of warning, but that doesn’t stop Harley from smiling against her cunt before diving in.

Madison moans loudly at the way Harley’s ravenous tongue laves through her folds. Her hands fall to the edge of the table just above Harley’s head and she grips it tightly when her lover begins to suck hungrily at her swollen, pulsing clit. As soon as she feels that coil in her tummy begin to tighten, Harley removes the suction, causing Madison to whine out, upset that her orgasm has escaped her. Harley simply noses at her clit momentarily before returning her tongue to Madison’s entrance, which clenches around nothing as she writhes above her.

Madison groans and shivers when Harley twirls the tip of her tongue around her hole before sliding into her entrance. Madison is already so sensitive that her body squirms and tries to create distance between her core and the intensity of Harley’s expert ministrations. Harley only grabs Madison’s ass and pulls her roughly against her mouth, sliding her tongue deeper. Madison’s body adjusts quickly and after a few moments, she begins to rut against Harley’s face. Harley moans at how vulnerable she has Madison in that moment, and the vibrations coax a weak cry from Madison’s lips.

Madison doesn’t hold back a single cry, curse word, or moan. She feels the warmth under her skin spread with each blasphemous declaration of pleasure that leaves her body, and the lewd sounds that echo off of the cathedral walls urge her to become louder with each thrust of her hips against her lover’s tongue. She feels dirty and degenerate and sinful and it’s glorious. Her back straightens and her head tips backward as she feels the familiar building tension in her core, and as the sounds of Harley licking at her hungrily become deafening in her ears, she feels a flood of warmth explode from her, coating Harley’s lips and chin in her orgasm. It’s powerful and feels like it lasts forever, and Madison continues to thrust weakly against Harley’s tongue as Harley continues suckling gently at her clit, riding it out.

Madison smiles triumphantly for a moment, the pleasure releasing all of the tension from her muscles. As the clouds of delirium evaporate from her mind, all that she can think about is her desire to hear Harley screams echo off the walls, like hers had just done.

Harley is kissing the skin of her thighs, now shaking and weak before Madison takes a deep breath and slides downward, kissing Harley’s lips that are still reminiscent of her taste once she’s low enough to reach. “I think you’ve earned a reward, baby.” Harley smiles and takes a moment to raise her hand and stroke Madison’s cheek. She always looks so beautiful like this; blissful, mischievous, and totally fucked out. Madison doesn't punish her touch this time, allowing this momentary intimacy to blanket the two of them. Madison smiles and leans to kiss Harley again, whispering against her red lips ‘my queen’.

Madison slips her hand between their closely pressed bodies and runs her fingers over the swell of Harley’s breast, moving her lips to Harley’s neck and licking a long line up her sweat-salted skin before kissing her way back down. She continues her way back down Harley’s beautiful body, caressing each curve, kissing each freckle and mark, and memorizing the spots that make her stir with desire. She worships her.

When she finally arrives back at the junction between Harley’s legs, she takes her time teasing her body. She uses the gentle touch of her finger tips to skate along the sensitive skin near, but not quite where Harley needs her touch the most. She kisses along Harley’s pubic bone, nosing at the sensitive patches of skin where her thighs give way to her pussy, and she breathes on the swollen and needy afflicted skin of her cunt, being careful to avoid her clit. By the time Madison is satisfied, Harley is whining and panting underneath her, desperately trying to keep her hands by her sides for fear of Madison’s wrath.

“You’ve been so good for me, kitten,” Madison coos, bringing her fingers forth to run along the sensitive folds just under her clit. “I’ll take care of you, I always do.” With that, Madison rests her cheek on Harley’s thigh, which is now rested flat against the table and allowing Madison unrestricted access to every inch of her core. Madison licks and kisses at her cunt, humming against her every few seconds, causing a jolt of pleasure to strike her spine. When Madison finally attaches her lips to Harley’s clit and begins to lave at the overstimulated bud, Harley releases a loud cry, which ignites a fire in Madison’s chest. Madison reaches a hand over Harley’s thigh and grasps her hand, intertwining their fingers and suckling a little more harshly.

“Louder, baby.” Harley turns a bright shade of crimson at Madison’s request, looking around her momentarily before screwing her eyes shut. Madison hums against her clit and Harley cries out again, her back arching in an attempt to get closer to the source of stimulation. Madison squeezes her hand, getting Harley’s attention again as her head has fallen back and her mouth hangs open in pleasure. “Let me hear you. I want the whole neighbourhood around this place to know what we think of their god.”

Harley is panting and whimpering at Madison’s touch, but as soon as Madison slides a finger into her entrance and curls her fingertip against the spongy spot inside her, her cries begin to fall faster and louder than before, her pleasure drunkening her mind and stripping away her modesty and reservation. With each cry of Madison’s name, every muttering of the word “fuck”, and especially every “oh God” that Harley’s tongue forms, Madison gets hungrier, and she knows she won’t stop until she’s completely devoured her.

Harley’s at her wits end. Her mind is white and her eyes are closed so tightly that she sees stars dancing behind them. Her chest rises and falls with heavy breath and with each exhale, a prayer of desire leaves her throat. She focuses on the feeling of Madison’s tongue licking deliciously at her core, and as she tips further and further over the edge, her grip on Madison’s hand grows tighter.

She feels the carnal pleasure of sin, the animalistic desire for flesh, and the primal need for Madison’s body as close to hers as possible. Her hair is messy and her skin is flushed, but she feels ethereal and beautiful. No one is better at reminding her what being a goddess feels like than Madison. Madison’s scent floods her mind as she finally succumbs to her pleasure, relaxing all of her muscles and allowing the pure pleasure to consume her. Her body is aflame and she’s happy to burn.

Madison lets up almost immediately, knowing Harley’s body becomes sensitive quickly after such an intense orgasm. She peppers kisses along her thighs and lower tummy, and once Harley drifts back to the moment, she squeezes Madison’s hand and a lazy smile graces her face. Madison lifts herself above Harley and moves her hair behind her ears, watching her calm her breathing and slow her heart rate.

She looks past Harley for a split second, one of the candles creating a glint on some brass object that catches her attention. She stares at the ornate brass altar bell, observing its long, smooth handle with a bulbous tip. She smirks and returns her gaze to Harley. As soon as she sees the mischievous grin on Madison’s face, she knows she’s not done ruining her just yet.

“I have an idea…” Harley smiles at Madison’s sudden cheekiness.

“I figured you would.” Madison looks back at the bell and in a moment, it flies into her hand. She waves her hand over it, and suddenly it’s shiny and bright once more, now clean and restored to its original state.

“Can you take one more orgasm for me, kitten? I would really like to see this handle disappear into your sinful little cunt.” Harley’s thighs instinctively squeeze together at Madison’s dirty words, and as she gazes at the bell, she finds herself nodding. Madison grins and leans down, kissing her lips before moving to the other end of the table. “Stand and bend over the table, pet.”

Harley does as she’s told, standing on shaky legs and shivering as her body has now cooled. “Are you cold, kitten?” Madison asks, her voice sickeningly sweet. Harley hesitantly nods, and Madison hums. “Don’t worry, you’ll feel a heat like hell soon enough.” Harley presses her thighs together, biting her lip before bending obediently over the table, hissing when the cold wood of the altar table presses against her nipples. Madison tosses her blonde hair behind her shoulder, kneeling between Harley’s legs and running her index finger through Harley’s soaking folds, gathering some of her excess wetness on her fingers before smearing it on the shiny metal handle of the altar bell. Harley can’t see Madison’s movements, and all she has in terms of maintaining her awareness is the sound of the bell ringing as Madison strokes it, spreading Harley’s arousal across it.

Madison licks some of the wetness off of the bell’s handle, humming at the sweet taste of her lover. She’s only satisfied once her saliva has it wet enough to slide easily into Harley’s tight little hole. She wouldn’t want to cause Harley any pain.

Meanwhile, Harley remains in her prescribed position, willing Madison to finally touch her, the humiliation of being on display so long without any contact beginning to fog her brain. Madison finally grips the bell by the base of the lengthy handle and runs the cold metal tip along Harley’s swollen, sensitive folds. Harley’s thighs twitch and a moan of surprise echoes through the room, causing a blush to creep up her neck. Madison only smiles with delight, continuing to tease Harley with the juxtaposition of the cold metal against her warm, wet pussy.

“Oh pet, does that feel good? Do you like the feeling of this pretty bell on your naughty pussy?” Harley only nods, feeling her tummy flutter at the slightest of touches against her skin. Her whole body is numb except for the heat between her legs, and her cheek rests on the table as she leans into the sacrilege of what they’re doing. Madison doesn’t expect a verbal response. Her lover is approaching her third orgasm in less than an hour and she knows that the only sounds she can manage are those of uncontrolled pleasure.

Madison teases Harley’s entrance with the tip of the bell, causing Harley to unconsciously move her hips back toward the intrusion. She lets Harley chase her own pleasure this time, resigning to watch and enjoy the sight of her beautiful partner getting herself off on the object in her hands. Madison pushes the bulbous tip into Harley, and a gentle gasp leaves her throat at the delicious stretch of her walls around the object. She pushes back a little, feeling the handle sink deeper into her, and soon enough it’s fully seated inside her. Madison twists it lightly, making Harley twitch and moan, and as soon as Harley begins shaking around it, Madison begins to pump the object in and out of her, watching her cunt swallow it over and over again as Harley’s moans and cries float around the room. Through the empty pews, across the marble floors, and bouncing off the stained glass, she savors Harley’s pleasure.

Harley doesn’t last long as Madison is careful to angle the bell just right, so it hits her g-spot with every thrust. Harley’s orgasm washes over her like a cooling wave, her mouth open allowing for blissful whimpers and gasps to escape. Madison is in utter awe of the way Harley shatters before her, and once Harley is completely exhausted and gone, she places one gentle kiss on her lower back.

Madison stands and helps Harley to return to an upright position, keeping her steady on her weakened legs before turning her to rest against the edge of the table. Madison plants her hands on the tabletop under Harley’s arms and presses their bodies together, kissing Harley softly and passionately. Just as Harley begins to kiss her back, Madison transmutates them to another room in the cathedral; the bathhouse. As Harley opens her eyes to observe their new location, Madison lights the candles in the room with a wave of her hand, and magically fills the tub with pristine, steaming water. Harley smiles at Madison and kisses her before resting her forehead against hers. Madison waves her hand once more and the tub erupts with fluffy, shimmering bubbles and Harley finally notices that beside the tub is a tray with champagne and… a pomegranate.

Harley meets Madison’s gaze again and this time, it’s accompanied by a knowing smirk. Harley doesn’t need to hear the words to know what Madison is trying to say. She knows Madison’s ‘I love you’s are better shown than told, and even though their relationship is neither normal nor official, she still appreciates the classical gesture.

They both sink into the tub quickly, Harley settling across from Madison, who has gracefully pulled her long silvery hair into a messy bun atop her head. Harley has poured them both a generous flute of champagne, and as she hands one to Madison, she rests her fingers against her pale neck and presses their lips together. Madison smiles delicately against her lips, giggling as they pull apart. Harley reaches with her free hand and grasps one half of the split pomegranate, running her thumb over the juicy interior of the fruit. Madison's eyes shimmer as Harley anchors her pearly teeth on the skin of the fruit and scoops some of the seeds into her mouth, moaning as the tart flavor spreads across her tongue. The red juice paints her lips, a little bit collecting in the corner of her mouth.

Madison immediately leans forward, collecting the little bit of juice and smiling against her lips. Harley deepens the kiss, resting her hands on Madison’s shoulders and pulling her closer until their bodies are intertwined, the champagne and fruit long forgotten as they kiss between saccharine laughter.

The sun has finally set, leaving them in pitch blackness with the exception of the candles’ warm glow, and in that moment, they’ve claimed each other.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

If you like what you just read, please consider Buying Me A Coffee to keep it coming! Those who donate 2+ coffees can request an imagine character/concept for me to write :)

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

If you would like to access all other content early, participate in polls to choose next week’s content, read the other patreon exclusive works, and more please consider becoming a Patron for only $10 per month.

You gain access to my entire body of exclusive works, which gains an exclusive oneshot (6000+ words) every month, and 8 exclusive imagines (800+ words) every month, and you get a say in what you see next here on the blog. *Once we reach 20 ($10+) patrons, I’m going to be adding a patreon-exclusive series to the list of benefits*

#madison montgomery #madison montgomery x reader #madison montgomery fanfiction #american horror story #ahs fanfiction #madison montgomery smut #madison montgomery oneshot #madison montgomery commission #commission #american horror story fanfiction #american horror story oneshot #american horror story smut

14 notes · View notes

hannah-writes · 5 years

Text

The Semiotics of Roswell (aka why Malex is Endgame because the camera says so)

One of the things I’m most grateful for about the Roswell fandom that I’ve met through Tumblr is the renewed passion I found for my degree subject, something I thought I’d fallen out of love with because of the pain associated with my time at university. Turns out I just needed to separate what I’d learned and what I loved from what I’d experienced. And Roswell (and @signoraviolettavalery, in particular) really helped reshape that.

Now, I know y’all are here for some meta, and this is just boring exposition. I’d originally planned on just keysmashing something as I’ve done in the past on other people’s posts and re-blogs but I thought I better try and be consistent.

One last thing before I dive in, like any other interpretation of a text, semiotics is influenced by the viewer, their experiences, their history and their take. It means that people might - and probably will - disagree with the way that I’ve viewed this, but discourse is discourse and I’d be interested to hear other views. For further reading on semiotics, I’d suggest starting with any of these books ( Metz, Christian (1974). Film language: A semiotics of the cinema. University of Chicago Press. Monaco, James (2000). How to read a film: the world of movies, media, and multimedia: language, history, theory. USA: Oxford University Press. Chandler, Daniel (1994). Semiotics for Beginners.).

I’m gonna work an episode at a time and will be focusing mainly on the visual narrative of Malex, since that’s predominantly my ship, but also looking at it through the way it’s parallelled with Echo and Michael/Maria which means there will probably be a fair bit of Echo content. What started out as a way of making a friend feel better is now a monster. You can blame her.

This is gonna be image heavy. You have been warned!

The first time we’re introduced to what we know will be a romantic pairing is Max and Liz at the checkpoint. This is a well-known trope for heterosexual couples; two characters of opposite genders meet in a location in the first episode you can be pretty confident that they’ll hook up before the show is over. Same goes for movies; boy meets girl, there’s bound to be love there somewhere. Or at the very least, sex.

What this also does is begins to set up a visual narrative that lasts across the show that can be referenced when we know a romantic pairing is going to be on the screen. (NB: this is important to note that there will always be other shots where characters are in this position that are not romantically linked, however, the regularity of their placement is what is being called out here, and in Malex’s case - which I’ll get to eventually, so stick with me - there’s an absolute consistency in their framing which is too precise to be accidental)

Max is shown on the left-centre of the frame here, and Liz on the right-centre. Compare these two images with the ones below.

Both are completely on the same side of the shot which in terms of reading the framing indicates that, romantically, they are no longer on the same page. There’s an unevenness in the camera angles here, too which is partly about perspective (i.e. when we look at Max, we’re looking up as Liz is and vice versa) but in a wider context, it also shows a power dynamic (and this is important for later). In this scene, as a police officer, Max has the power. (Think later to the scene in 1x13 where Max and Liz are intimate and a vast majority of the camera angles are shot up at her from Max’s position).

The closeness of these shots is intimate; if we didn’t know the setting of these, we might not have assumed that there’s a physical barrier between them as there’s no real indication of one. The close-up shots are tight on their faces and not so much on the environment around them, focusing the audience to narrow in on their faces.

It’s also a highly unusual move to have a switching POV shot keeping the same angle regardless of who’s POV we’re seeing the scene from which just further highlights that this is telling us categorically that Max and Liz - though romantically entangled (TV Trope 101) - are not right now on the same page. If they were, ironically, they would be on opposite sides of the screen.

When we bring another character in, Sheriff Valenti is more centralised in her framing, and the angle at which she is shot (from Liz’s POV still as we’re inside the car) is immediately less intimate, there’s more space and as an audience we’re made aware of the barrier of the frame of the car door. The close up is even a little less intense here, we see more of Sheriff Valenti’s shoulder in the over-the-shoulder shot of Liz’s face, and we see more of Liz’s car. It’s a reminder, it’s breaking that spell of MaxandLiz that we had earlier by physically creating distance.

What is important, though, is this shot below and it took me a while to realise but Max is reflected in her car window and here is a perfect example of them sharing a shot with a defined side. It’s literally seconds, but they’re on either side of the shot here and even though we can’t see Max (other than in his reflection - and honestly I only noticed when looking through screencaps), we know she’s looking at him. The obvious imagery here is that Max is, literally, in her rear window; he’s part of her past, but it also shows that he’s a part of her life despite her having attempted to move on.

This image is also key in another way; it sets up the beginning of the visual dynamic for this show’s couples that I’m going to call Your Side My Side.

One of the other on screen romantic (sort of) dynamics set up in this is Liz and Kyle. Comparing their framing (over the shoulder, opposite sides) to the Max and Liz (over the shoulder, same side) gives us a clue into the route their relationship is going to take. He’s framed similarly to Sheriff Valenti; Kyle’s in the middle of the shot here, when it would have been just as easy to have him off to one side of the frame and it would have lost no narrative impact. However, there’s none of the my side your side here, since the two of them share the middle of the screen.

In this shot (haha, and it’s a terrible screencap of Jeanine’s beautiful face and for that I AM SORRY), Liz is pretty much bang-smack in the middle of the shot, but both she and the back of Kyle’s head are sharing the same space in the frame and they’re on the same side of the image. You never see Echo or Malex sharing the same side of the shot while they’re both in it, they’re always paralleled on opposite sides (which we’ll see, for example, in the first toolshed scene where they’re sat side-by-side but on either side of the frame).

What’s set up with Kyle & Liz is a narrative that they are not to be framed romantically. Though they hook up, their shots are largely framed in a similar way with them sharing space in the frame.

Now, the reason you’re all here: Malex.

This next few screenshots don’t need as much dissection as the kissing ones, but hey, we’ll spend some time looking at everyone’s pretty faces :D

Michael and Alex have their own sides of the screen - Alex on the right, Michael on the left. What’s interesting here is the closeness of the shots, the character that isn’t in focus is just as dominant on the screen as the one that is; Michael takes up almost half of Alex’s shot (above) and Alex does take up half of Michael’s shot (below)

After they both look at Master Sgt Manes (which is a shot of the two of them in the middle, Master Sgt looking on - setting up the voyeuristic element Malex that I touch on in the video break down) the camera gives them some distance from each other, though the focus and shot type doesn’t change, Alex and Michael barely fit in the frame with each other.

Though we don’t fully know what’s going on, past Michael’s spiteful comments about being a ‘real Manes man’ (and since he’s set up as a fuck-authority character it’s easy to assume that it’s all it is, he’s angry at the fact that The Man is on his property telling him what to do, fuck the man! Well, fuck that man in particular, please, in the airstream I missed you so much and how dare you be here with him.) it’s not until the ‘run and tell your daddy’ that we as an audience realise that there’s likely more going on here. The shift in framing is indicating that it’s Alex putting distance between them, which is a common theme in their relationship for the rest of the season. His face is still in Michael’s shot (above), but only Michael’s shoulder is in Alex’s (below).

Though we’re setting up a precedent for Alex putting distance between them, Michael’s the one that shuts down the interaction in this scene by disappearing into the airstream. He’s the first to break it.

Having set up the my-side-your-side dynamic for Malex in their first interaction, their meeting again at the reunion is interesting because it shows a shift - already - in their interactions. We find that the right-left dynamic is constant unless there’s a power shift or something significant, both of which we see before the Malex kiss.

Here, they’re shot on the same side of the frame (Alex’s side). Alex has come to the reunion thinking that Michael’s doing something wildly illegal considering what his scientists found (and honestly, with Carina confirming Alex’s costume was wrong in the pilot and then in 1x02 seeing Alex with Captain Bars on his collar it makes me so happy he’s outranked his shit-bag father). They’re no longer even remotely on the Same Page. Alex is angry and confused and disappointed; Michael is better than some back-alley meth lab in the middle of a dairy ranch.

The sudden shift in their camera angles - the mid-shot that falls back further when Alex grabs Michael’s arm (as Michael’s looking to get away from Alex again, for the second time in this episode) and holds him close gives us another dizzying shift.

The my-side-your-side changes (below) and the camera pulls in intimately close for the ‘you’re wasting your life’ and ‘does the macho cowboy swagger thing ever get old’.

Alex is turned into Michael (above) but Michael’s not facing Alex, not turned away. “you tryna hold my hand, private?” even though he doesn’t have the physical distance - and the camera doesn’t let him have that either, it’s close and tight and suffocating and Michael can’t escape it even if he wanted to - he can joke, he can look away, he can keep distance between their heads.

Alex has the power in that screenshot above; Alex is the one that grabbed Michael. Alex is the one still holding him.

In the below shot, however - this is a split second before Michael says ‘did it get old for you?’ - we’re treated to the same shot as above but reversed. They’re back on their own sides of the screen and Michael’s reclaimed the power in the scene. When using ‘private’ in an offensively flirtatious manner didn’t work, he drops his voice and all but purrs in Alex’s ear a question (that probably was meant to be mocking and actually ends up being a little more broken than he intended it to be (is that why you left? did you get bored of me? was I not enough?) but it’s enough. Alex is visibly rocked by it and the camera - since it stays so tight on them, swings out a second later to reveal Michael walking away to wrap his arms around another girl, with the framing still being quite visibly your-side-my-side.

Now, let’s talk about the real reason everyone’s here; the Malex kiss. I can’t work out how to embed a youtube video in an already image-heavy post and as I was writing I realised that fuck I have too much to say about it to stick into this already busy as heck post so I’m gonna dissect that separately and focus on stills here, but I’ll link to that post, too. (It’s here, by the way, if you wanna see it and breaks this scene down into TINY PIECES).

The my-side-your-side is constant here, and honestly, the video post I made explains it in a lot more detail but I’ve started so I’ll finish. The blue wash of this entire scene is meant to encourage a sense of calm - and how we move from Alex being backlit with red (below, where he’s saying ‘we’re not kids anymore, what I want doesn’t matter) to being completely swamped in blue like Michael is is representative of the change in Alex from ‘must not kiss Michael’ to swaying into Michael’s orbit and holding onto him because he needs it as much as Michael does. (You can tear the headcanon that they’re soulmates and linked on a fundamental, cosmic level from my cold dead hands).

We’re meant to focus more on Alex’s face in this section, which is why Alex has a few more close-up shots (and eh, who can blame us for wanting more of Tyler’s pretty face? Pfft) and we’re able to watch the journey of resistance (red) to acceptance and calm and serenity and home (blue) as he moves forward into Michael’s space and accepts Michael into his.

This kiss is epic. You can’t deny that. The framing is soft-focused and the camera lingers, allows us to really zoom in on the moment and focus on what’s happening: the intensity of the moment. I’ve talked about this a lot, but the way the camera swings to catch up with Michael as he surges into Alex and then goes still is - imo - representative of how Alex stabilises Michael’s world, soothes it right down. The world rocks on its axis when their lips first touch, when their bodies collide, but then it all goes still and calm as Michael’s entropy changes. The blue helps foster that, too, it’s calming and soothing and tranquil. It’s safety and security. And it’s home.

With Jesse Manes’ words about love being spoken over this (below) shot and not over Echo (who have a cute handprint moment but it’s not the same), the show is choosing to put a focus and emphasis on the fact that this, right here, is a cosmic, epic love that cannot - and will not - be denied. Alex can’t run from who he is (as the soundtrack said while he was looking at a picture of his out-and-proud teenage self) and they can’t run from this (as the soundtrack says, again). This is it for them. And this is it for us, too, as viewers. We’re getting it set up in the very beginning that this is a cosmic love story, that it has history and pain but that it is love. That’s important to remember: we are told at the very beginning that Michael and Alex love each other. It doesn’t matter that they also sets up a paradigm of the two of them almost saying what they mean but never actually saying the words. “What I want doesn’t matter” - I want you. “I never look away, not really” - I love you. “It was late, I was tired” - I stayed because this is safe for me, you are home. What we are TOLD EXPLICITLY is that Michael and Alex love each other.

Hold onto that, folks. Because the visual narrative does not change.

(tagging, by request, @i-never-look-away, @stydiaeverafter, @signoraviolettavalery, @saadiestuff. If you wanna be tagged in future meta, let me know!)

#roswell new mexico #rnm #roswell new mexico cw #alex manes #michael guerin #max evans #liz ortecho #hannah uses her degree #hannah writes #malex #echo #maria deluca #semiotics #roswell cinematography #i have no idea what else to tag this as #semiotics of roswell #meta #my meta #visual meta

139 notes · View notes

d-om · 5 years

Text

Daddy’s Work - ( Soryu Fanfic )

Congratulations to my giveaway winner @rockingbrooklyn!! She requested I write a fic where Soryu takes his toddler daughter to work and spends the day with him. ((: I’m sorry for the delay!! But here it is! 💕 Hope you enjoy.

Words: 1791 Genre: Fluff Notes: I haven’t written something happy in sooo long! As always, comments and feedback are welcomed!

“B-Boss!?” Stuttered one.

“Who’s that??!” Wailed another.

Their necks that stretched above to see Soryu now ducked down to gaze at the dainty figure that hid behind his leg. It clung so tightly to the hem of his pants, wrinkling the fabric with the intensity of its grasp.

“Go on..” Soryu ushered the being by popping his chin in the direction of the men. “Say hi.”

He tried spreading his leg to unveil the face that was hidden behind him. However, all it did was scurry behind his leg and grip it tighter. Strange. She wasn’t usually shy.

“Oh, come here.” Soryu bent down to wrestle the mysterious being from the clutch of his outfit. He started to chuckle as he maneuvered his hands around it, and in return, it giggled with him as well. Delicate chime bells was one way to describe the laughter of this figure. Who exactly was this creature behind him? It seemed like some child but.. Soryu with a child? Him having a wife was already hard to wrap their head around.

Soon however, the moment ceased as Soryu lifted the figure high in the air and delighted screams were now accompanied by gasp of the men.

Was that? A girl? A female child? With SORYU?

Their mouths gaped open and their eyes bursted from their sockets. Their focal point was now her. Everything about her. Curls that bounced when contacted with her shoulders. Eyes that seemed to reflect every celestial being that roamed the sky. Cheeks brushed with careful strokes of red. And even the minuscule silk bow that added a touch of elegance. Next to Soryu, they seemed like complete opposites. The men were confused before, but now they couldn’t even comprehend the situation. Soryu laid his arms around her waist and prompted her on his hip, turning his leg to pop his hip out further.

“Now, can you say hi?” He dragged the sentence slowly and added the sweet chord to the end of his sentence. What the hell was he doing? Was he really being cute, err, trying to be cute with this girl?

“...Hi..” Barely a whisper of the word. Yet, it was the last flame that the bomb of questions needed.

“BOSS, TELL US?!!”

“WHO IS THAT CUTE LITTLE GIRL???”

“BOSS..DID YOU- No.. DID YOU STEAL A LITTLE GIRL???!!”

“Guys, please...” He loved them. Dearly. But at times like these, he wished he could sew their mouths shut to prevent any more nonsense spewing through their teeth. “This is my daughter-“

He ignited yet another bomb.

“LIES!”

“This cute little girl can’t be your daughter!”

“You’re too scary for a girl like that!!”

Quite the insults coming from the men who coward at his glare. Not men. Idiots. All of them. His mouth opened, ready to defend his honor that was shattering as they continued to doubt his ties with his little girl. Yet, his words never vibrated the waves of air. Instead, hers did.

“This is my daddy!” The laughter ceased in an instant. “Daddy is not scary! Daddy handsome!” Her hands latched onto Soryu’s shoulders as she leaned towards the crowd. What did they mean Daddy was scary? Daddy always gave her gifts and read stories to her! Even as a small child, her cheeks grew hot with anger and puffed threateningly.

“Say sorry!” She now pointed her finger directly in the center of the group.

“Pfft..” Soryu shifted his head, muffling his chuckles through the gate of his hand. Just like her mother. Just like her.

“B-But..”

“Say sorry NOW!”

“W-We’re sorry!” They fell to their knees and begged for their mercy. Shivers that ran along their spine paralyzing their heads downward in a respectful position.

“You guys never change..” He felt a warmth rapture his heart and stream it’s way to every corner of his body. “You still always listen to the girls..” They listened like dogs when under the harsh criticism of his wife or his daughter. Peculiar yet amusing. One of the group’s quirks supposedly.

“Alright..” Though as playful this time had been, Soryu’s duty laid heavy on his shoulders. Several documents, discussions with neighboring mafia’s had to be dealt with to maintain the order that strictly flowed. Yet, how could he leave? No. No. He had to.

“Well.. Since you’re acquainted...” Soryu freed his arm from underneath her and lowered his posture, delicately placing her feet on the carpet. “I trust you’ll take good care of her as I attend to what needs to be done.”

“No!!” Her tiny grasp seized his onward motion. She looked at him, her eyes once filled with the stars now clouded, brimming on the edge with tears. She didn’t want Daddy to leave! Lush curls teetered back and forth as she buried her snot stricken face into the fabric of his pants once more.

“I wanna play! Play!” A demand? Or a cry for affection? It broke his heart regardless. Yes, he wanted to hold and play with her too. Tangle his finger through the cyclones of her hair. Rub the edge of his calloused knuckles through the tender and gentle warmth of her cheeks. But, in order to do that, he needed to work so they could continue these blissful moments. Not live a life controlled by fear and violence.

“I promise,” Soryu raked his fingers through her hair and clemently tousled her frills, “After Daddy’s done, we’ll play lots. Okay?”

His smile lifted his face and wrinkled the sides of his eyes. Lovingly narrowing to convey his immeasurable love he endured for her. She seemed to understand. Daddy play with her later? Yay! In return, she widened her smile larger than Soryu’s to show him her approval. Releasing him of her hold, she lifted her pinky.

“Promise?”

Taken aback at the gesture Soryu widened his eyes. Where had she learn that? An image of his beloved replayed through his head like an ancient film. Ahh. Yes. Of course. From the one he admired most yet again. He too raised his pinky.

“Promise.”

—- Few hours Later ——

“Daddy?” A noise, barely a whisper softly cooed at Soryu. Even at such a volume, he could recognized that sweet melody of notes

“What is it, Princess?” He unfurled his neck from the bent position it was in. Scattered cracking under the pressure as he straightened.

“Why does Daddy have to put a time out on bad guys?” She timidly glazed her way to Soryu’s side, keeping her head parallel to the carpet. Playing with the Ice Dragons was entertaining, yet she longed to ravage in the same exhilaration with her father. This feeling. A feeling of longing to be close to her father felt.. guilty. How could a young girl feel this way? At the age of five no less.

Through the thin shield of her curls, Soryu could see her eyes. Lashes low to the ground and her cheeks pouting a peach color contrary to the rose blush before. What sort of question was he being asked? More of, how did such a question arise- Right. The Dragons must’ve told her stories. Damn.. How to respond..How-to-respond..

“Because I need to protect you..” A truthful answer. One that slipped through his tongue. However, his response awoke an emotion inside of her that was yet to be explored thoroughly. One of misunderstanding and hurt. Big welts of tears began to sweep down the sides of her cheeks, her nose unfurling the snot that was dried before. Her shoulders shook slightly as she hastily tried to dispel of her tears through the near end of her palm.

“H-Hey-“

“I’m sorry, Daddy!” She managed to scream the agonizing words through the hiccups of her tears.

“Why are you apologizing?” The chair beneath him was casted aside. Rapidly, he ran to her aid. Kneeling to her side, drying the tears with his sleeve and pulling her into his embrace while rhythmically patting her back. He was baffled. Why was she crying? What was he supposed to do? Did he misword something?

“B-Because!” Her sudden scattered inhales interrupted her explanation. “I-I put Daddy in s-scary posit-positions!” She wailed into Soryu’s shoulders.

“No.. That’s not-“

“I-I’ll try to bec-become stronger so Dad-Daddy won’t need to protect m-me anymore!” Tears after tears. How could she put Daddy in such scary places?!

“No- Look- Ah..” Soryu faced a predicament, one that he wasn’t accustomed to handling with. Whilst coaxing her through his warmth, his head ran wild with words that would harmoniously string together to calm the storm he created. He wasn’t good with words that held tremendous comfort. Blunt and sharp words were the only ones circulating his vocabulary. However, that was before he met her. Her, the one who blessed upon him the joy of a life and a daughter to raise. Soryu found himself replaying the memories of their family together, searching for a scene that reflected an identical situation to the one now. Think, Soryu. Think!

Muffled intakes and exhales of stuttered breaths were the only sounds in the room for a duration of time.

“Look..” He peeled her away from the placement she stuck against his shoulder. Standing her posture to be directly in the center of his focal point.

“You don’t need to apologize.. Daddy wants to protect you. If I don’t, bad people may come for us and Daddy doesn’t want anybody hurt. Especially you, my little girl.” Knuckles that belonged to him slid underneath her chin and held it up gently. Doed eyes that were reddened from excessive tears now gazed directly into his. In return, slanted eyes crinkled with compassion to further explain his endearment towards her. “I want to play with you. I do. But, for me to play, I need to make sure no one harms you. Okay? Don’t cry. I love you, Princess. I’ll make sure no one harms you.”

“So, Daddy’s not mad?” The childish glow steadily began to replenish her once again.

“No. Daddy’s not mad.” Soryu wiped the last teardrop upon her cheek before standing from his knelt position. “Now, come here!” He widened his arms and passionately glimmered a smile at her. It felt like the right time. Time to finally play.

“Hehe!!” She bound into the embrace of his arms yet again. Daddy was going to play! Play!

“I promised didn’t I?” Soryu raised his pinky into her view, utilizing it to quickly swipe it on the bridge of her nose. The same chimes that twinkled when she laughed arose again as she interlocked her pinky with his. Who knew that the work he planned today would be put off? Especially by a little girl that held a tremendous place in the furrows of Soryu’s heart.

#voltage inc #voltage otome #kissed by the baddest bidder #kbtbb #voltage games #otome #otome game #kbtbb soryu #kissed by the baddest bidder soryu #otome games #kbtbb soryu fanfic #soryu fanfic #soryu oh fanfic #kissed by the baddest bidder fanfic #kbtbb fanfic #voltage inc fanfic #voltage inc soryu

83 notes · View notes

vyvesvi · 5 years

Text

vyvesvi’s long awaited yesstyle review lmao :-)

ugh the keep reading isn’t working on mobile rip y’all sry

>a few Important things:

i just moved into my dorm yesterday so everything abt the pics and reviews to follow is a hot mess + i misplaced some stuff + didn’t bring it to my dorm bc it didnt work out (so i don’t have pics)

I’m not being sponsored in any way by yesstyle, i just don’t think there are enough black reviewers of yesstyle goods (but what does race have to do with anything, you may ask??? well, ppl come in all shaoes and sizes and the overlap between east asian sizes and body types and black body types is um. well. slim. that being said, i’ll give you some deets on me: i legit have no idea how much i weigh but im generally thin-ish with thicker thighs and a tummy pouch; height: ~169 cm, generally a US size S - M/4 - 6))

bc im not being sponsored, im not providing any (affiliate) links, just product names, sorry if that’s annoying

every yesstyle member (you become a member when you buy stuff) gets a reawrds code that takes a % off of my next order and the order that the code is used for, but I think it’s only like. 2% or smthng. message me and i’ll try to unearth my code if ur interested)

I ordered this stuff in two separate, similarly sized orders and the delivery time went like this (#1: ordered on- 2019-07-05 01:33 AM; split into two packages for some reason, received on like...july 22ndish? for some reason the tracking info isnt showing the delivery info. the 2nd part of this order, which was shipped a day later, arrived on the 19th. #2: ordered on- 2019-07-30 10:04 AM, received on 08/20, wasn’t expecting much bc it was shipped from hong kong during the protests but it was basically the same as the first order)

>the actual review part

i rly didnt wanna make a long post so just click for better quality sry lmao

edit: rip the quality if y’all want better photos @ me lmao

Dreamkura - Short-Sleeve Embroidered T-Shirt, Black - L

4/5- weird shape (really long sleeves for a short sleeved shirt, and really boxy too), and if you compare the placement and size of the patch vs. the one in the picture it’s not 100% accurate. still a cute shirt though so it’s fine

I sized up for an oversized look but I probably didn’t 100% need to

the black one is currently unavailable :/

camikiss - Seamless Under Shorts, Black - One Size

5/5- i wear these shorts too much. im wearing them right now. the ultimate safety shorts

the one size was a Risk but these shorts stretch well. maybe dont get them if you’re an XL and above in US sizes though

Lemongrass - Distressed Denim Shorts, Dark Blue - M

4.5/5- better quality than primark which. wow, did not see that coming

you have to cut the button hole (they seal it to show they they’ve never been worn apparently)

the button kinda like...jingles if you shake them vigorously, but it doesn’t happen when the pants are on, so it’s fine. still funny tho

im bad at wearing ripped shorts but if ur not i highly recommend

INKLEE - Round Buckle Faux Leather Belt - 105CM

5/5- kinda cheap but it does what I want which is hold my pants up lol

i could’ve sized down but that has way more to do with me not knowing my waist size lmao

Gwendolyn - Off-Shoulder Ruffle-Trim Blouse, White - One Size

4/5- i bought this bc it made me think “flyy like a butterfly” and all that jazz

it’s not my normal style but i really like it! it’s VERY sheer though

but I also got white so what did i really expect?

one-size was a risk once again but this shirt is pretty roomy, although it’s also kinda short...like not crop top short, but slightly difficult to tuck in short.

i would buy it again in black so i guess that says something

also i have like. freaky long arms (i can wave my hand over my shoulder with my arm behind my back and my elbow parallel to my torso...that’s such a weird description but uh. just know that my arms are long okay) and it didn’t look too indecent at the top to have the sleeves pulled down to my wrists! it’s a win!)

Moon City - Drop Shoulder Cardigan, Black - One Size

4.7/5- smelled weird when i opened it but I washed it and it’s fine!

one size risk but this one was also roomy af

the sleeves fit!!! god bless!!!

Edise - Couple Matching Elbow-Sleeve Embroidered T-Shirt, Black - L & White L

5/5- The white one was perfect and I love it! I sized like 2 sizes up for it to be a oversized but I would say it’s only abt 1 size oversized, if that makes sense? but I actually like it the way it is so cool lmao

3.7/5- the black one was really badly sewn on, but i reported it and got a new one for free so go me go yesstyle! they didnt give me tracking info *i think* and i wasn’t really waiting for it so it feels like it came fast lol

the moon is kinda a more awkward shape in person i think, but the stormy clouds were high quality and perfect!

i really like the material of the shirt!s it’s thick and soft and smooth? i’ve legit never felt a tshirt like that but im into it

DIYI - Plain High-Waist A-Line Skirt, Black - M

4.7/5- im wearing the outfit pictured right now and *TMI* the sewn in shorts are giving me a very very uncomfortably large wedgie tbh

it fits perfectly otherwise though

i feel like it’s one of the cheapest feeling things that i received, but it’s about forever21 quality but for only $11.45 so i’m 100% fine with it tbh

TREEZIN - Plaid Mini Skirt, Dark Blue - M

4.7/5- it’s very cute and fits perfectly! kinda shirt though and there was like 1 loose thread

the brown in the skirt isn’t super noticeable which i don’t really mind...overall i’d say that they lightened the photos considerably, which effects the color of the skirt

no safety shorts but idrc

pretty thick material

the final stretch thank god

Manicotto - Mock Two-Piece Sleeveless Mini Dress, Check - M

3/5 pretty cheap material. the skirt is true to size, but the top is like two sizes too small (i don’t have that much boob but it was still too much for this poor, poor, top). they come as separate pieces, so i brought the skirt to school with me and left the top at home. im not sure what i would tell someone who wanted to buy this abt sizing, bc of the dramatic discrepancy btwn the sizes.

A’ROCH - 925 Sterling Silver Dinosaur Earring, 1 Pair - S925 Silver - Gold - One Size

4/5, very cute, VERY small (dainty, sure) and good quality! my only complaint is that either it’s not real silver or whatever it is that they used to make them look gold is something that im allergic to. my ears got itchy

A’ROCH - 925 Sterling Silver Ear Cuff1 Pair - Cross - Silver - One Size

4.7/5, definitely 100% silver. i’d love to wear them but with my move i can’t find either pair of the earrings

they only sell them as 2 of the cross cuffs or 2 of the parallel cuffs which is annoying bc they’re pictured together but they’re good enough and cheap enough that i’d buy the parallel ones in a separate order

Euphrasia - Oxford Crossbody Bag, Black - One Size

5/5 one of my best buys hands down

its ugly cute but it’s so useful

it has so much storage space for such a small bag

im in love

Jansi - Set of 3: Heart-Embroidered Socks, Black + White + Blue - One Size

4.5/5 i wanted the dark gray that’s pictured but they edited the hell out of that photo so the blue that i ordered is actually the gray sock pictured

really comfy and cute! esp with the tops of the hearts peeking out over the tops of high top converses??? i love it sm

i have big feet and they fit me, so they’d fit most ppl i think

Ashlee - Cuffed Denim Shorts, Light Blue - M

2/5, a horrible disappointment part 1

maybe i shouldve sized up more but the critch area just fits SO BADLY i left these at home

i would return but im not paying for return shipping to hong kong so i’ll donate them

they’re also cute really badly like they don’t taper in at the waist at all

no human person is shaped like that pls ashlee

they get a 2 bc they are shorts and they sent me the right color

Rosehedge - Pleated Mini Skirt, Black - S

3/5, a horribly disappointment part 2

i shouldve sized up idky i didnt

i can actually fit into them and zip them up and everything but it’s so so short that you can basically see my entire safety short covered butt and it kinda bulges between the top of the tiny sewn in safety shorts and the actual skirt

wow thats a weird sentence sorry but you get it

has thousands of good reviews though, way more than anything on this list so that must count for something right?

3 bc it’s kinda my fault

Regalia - Faux Leather Wallet, Black - One Size

5/5 beautiful lots of storage space but still very compact, would buy again

the “forever young, made in korea” is kinda ugly but what can you do?

Prinsis - Printed Socks, Dinosaur - White - One Size

3.5/5 they’re cute, but the design is so but that you can see halves of it on the front of the sock, which is very ugly

notice how on the site every pic is taken from the side? not a coincidence

they fit fine and are comfy though

>okay that’s it thank god!

>lmk if you have any questions!!!

(@gowon-yyxy)

#ys saga #yesstyle #yes style #yesstyle review #i see there is not a market for this tag #oh well #im not editing this im too tired

6 notes · View notes